This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 1, “Hegemony, Part II"Star Trek: Strange New Worldsreturns to Paramount+ with a callback toStar Trek: Discoverythat turned out much better than it did forDiscovery’s Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). InStrange New Worldsseason 2’s cliffhanger ending, the Gorn attacked the Parnassus Beta colony and kidnapped several hundred people—including four importantEnterprisecrew members.
Now, inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 1, “Hegemony, Part II”, which is directed by Chris Fisher and written by Davy Perez Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the remaining USSEnterprisecrew members are able to track the Gorn—and their missing people—to the Gorn homeworld.
They find the Gorn ship obscured by the gravity well between two binary stars, but still need a solution to save everyone and minimize casualties. BeforeStar Trek: Discovery’s two-part series premiere, “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle of the Binary Stars”, the Vulcans had greeted the Klingons with violence, a language that the Vulcans—and Commander Michael Burnham—believed the Klingons understood better than Starfleet diplomacy.
Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) disagreed; Starfleet never fires first. Instead of respecting the chain of command,Burnham defied orders with actions that led directly to Georgiou’s death, the Federation-Klingon War, and Burnham’s own downfall as Starfleet’s first documented mutineer.
How Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Premiere Echoed Star Trek: Discovery’s Series Premiere
Binary Stars, A Powerful Enemy, And A Starfleet Officer With Restrictive Orders
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 3 premiere echoesStar Trek: Discovery’s series premiere by confronting an alien enemy of the Federation in a binary star system. In both cases,our heroes have to subdue a threat to the Federation that they can’t overpowerwith either diplomacy or force.
The Klingons and the Gorn both outmatch the USSShenzhouand the USSEnterprise, respectively, and Burnham and Pike are both expected to just wait it out. As a human xenoanthropologist raised by Vulcans, Burnham’s solution to dealing with the Klingons inStar Trek: Discovery’s premiere is based on her own expertise as well as the culture she grew up with.
There’s an inherent logic in the Vulcans' solution to keeping the heavily-armed Klingon forces at bay that matches Burnham’s own understanding of meeting alien cultures on their own terms. But as Captain Georgiou points out,violence cannot be Starfleet’s opening salvo. When Burnham acts on her own, it starts the Klingon War.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 3 premiere puts Pike and theEnterprisein a similar bind. Pike’s official orders from Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) are to patrol the demarcation line set by the Gorn, because Pike going in hot against the Gorn would surely incite a war—and Starfleet is still recovering from Commander Burnham’s mistake.
Just like Burnham couldn’t sit back and do nothing against the Klingons inDiscovery,Pike refuses to let the Gorn see Starfleet as prey.The only question is how to punch back without either diplomacy or violence.
Strange New Worlds Did Everything Right Compared To Burnham & Star Trek: Discovery
Captain Pike Works With—Not Against—The Enterprise’s Orders From Starfleet
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' USSEnterprisecrewdid everything right, compared to Commander Burnham inStar Trek: Discovery. When Captain Pike’s hands are tied by Federation values of non-violence,Pike communicates the real stakes to Admiral April: a loss right now will mean the Gorn coming for the whole Federation after they’re done with the Parnassians.
April lets Pike bend the scope of theEnterprise’s current orders, but only because rescuing the officers and civilians right now will best serve the Federation in the long run. So instead of going in with phasers blazing to save the colonists,Captain Pike trusts in the competence of the Enterprise crewto come up with a third option that gets the Gorn off the Federation’s doorstep, without firing a single shot.
It’s a true team effort that puts the Gorn back into hibernation.
Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) come back with the data needed to subdue the Gorn, and Scotty (Martin Quinn) figures out the modifications that make it work. It’s a true team effort that puts the Gorn back into hibernation.
InStar Trek: Discovery’s premiere, Commander Burnham just wasn’t willing to cooperate or compromise with Captain Georgiou—but that was necessary in order to kick offMichael Burnham’sStar Trek: Discoverystory. Pike, by contrast, is already a highly decorated Starfleet captain, who has learned the fine art of pushing back against orders when Starfleet brass are out of touch with reality.
So, while Burnham’s Battle at the Binary Stars failed spectacularly, the solution inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsworks out because Pike upholdsStar Trek’s core tenets of communication and cooperation.
