Episode 5 (“Charades“) of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 debuts tomorrow, on Thursday, July 13. And there’s a new clip to hold you over while you wait. [SPOILERS]
What’s up Spock?
This week’s episode features a big change for Spock after he gets injured. You can watch the moment he wakes up in sickbay below (via Parade):
The official synopsis for “Charades” offers some more context:
A shuttle accident leads to Spock’s Vulcan DNA being removed by aliens, making him fully human and completely unprepared to face T’Pring’s family during an important ceremonial dinner.
Gia Sandhu as T’Pring, Ethan Peck as Spock, Ellora Patniak as T’Pril, Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson and Michael Benyaer as Sevet in episode 205 “Charades” (Paramount+)
In a clip released with the latest The Ready Room, you can see Spock and Chapel together in that shuttle before the accident (The clip starts at 29:45.)
For more details and photos, see our previous preview for episode 205.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
At first glance, the premise of this episode sounds similar to the Voyager episode “Faces”
Yeah pretty much. SNW is good but it’s not quite that original either. ;)
But to be fair there are so many episodes at this point, there isn’t a sci fi concept out there the show probably hasn’t done at least once.
I Agee. I really really like that SNW exists. But I’m hoping for the next new series it features that elusive mix of something a bit different and yet still feeling like Star Trek. I truly believe that’s possible.
Ironically that’s why I liked Prodigy so much. It was using a lot of concepts other shows used too but it felt more fresh due to its premise and characters. If it was a live action show, it may be in a very different place right now.
SNW is basically just more TOS/TNG/VOY etc but updated. But that’s WHY it’s popular lol. But tit can still stand a little more on its own IMO.
To be fair, Star Trek has been copying itself for decades now. And sometimes, the copy is better than the original.
I don’t remember which eps they were but there were eps of DS9 and Enterprise that both had fake societies of holograms and the funny thing is both starred René Auberjonois
Ugh, why do they want to replicate lousy Voyager episodes.. move on from the snoozefest TNG, it wrecked Enterprise, don’t wreck SNW.
Learn from Pic S3, ignore the TNG, bring on the movie era TOS type stories, ships, etc. PIC sucked until David Marcus Picard showed up with the neo-Connie.
While SNW is more serialized than some of the early hype let on, movie-style stories would require more serialization. Personally, I think Manny Coto hit the nail on the head with his series-of-trilogies approach.
Indeed, the trilogy episodes were brilliant. Live broadcast length had also been gradually cut away at for more commercial so much so over the decades that a single Enterprise episode lost a whole Act as compared to TOS. It’s like they were 4-act stories on Ent instead of 5-act. Anyways, the trilogy approach really let the contained stories “breath” a lot more and permitted more character moments and addressed the dwindling weekly runtime due to more advertising.
Not that I’ve seen any of those (at least that I remember), but the trilogy episode idea works budgetarily as well.
I spent a number of years trying to work up an antiTrek space show that was basically working-class space (a decade ahead of FIREFLY), and for a short while I had a writing partner who agreed with my assessment that creating what were essentially feature length stories that would play out as three-episode arcs was the way to go when it comes to spending money, because you get an immediate return on larger investments, like a particular group’s spaceships and architecture. Also, with the latter, you have created more basic forms that can be redressed or mangled into something else that go into your scene dock for future shows that aren’t made from tissue paper and shadows, so you have more options that maximize production value in that way too.
Another takeaway here is that you can actually get into the details of people and culture in 2-1/4 hrs a lot more deeply than in 46 minutes (at least in theory, though a lot of writing in current Trek comes off like padding to fill out the season.)
This is also how I recall De Kelley saying he thought Trek should be done in the late 70s, with a series of 7 or 8 90-min to 2hr movies per season, a la the NBC MYSTERY MOVIE that rotated between MCCLOUD, MCMILLAN&WIFE, COLUMBO and a series to be cancelled later.
I’m not sure I’ve ever rewatched “Faces,” but my memory of it is that Roxann Biggs-Dawson showed us her acting chops in that episode. Peck, on the other hand, seems to have regressed to middle-school-drama class level acting. If that.
As someone forced to engage with community theater on a regular basis as part of my job, I believe your opinion on Peck’s acting to be both inaccurate and unfair. There is lots of bad acting in front of crowds across the U.S. and it is on a level you would likely find incomprehensible.
Looking forward to it, but I’m sure some will moan because fandom means being an armchair critic these days and nobody seems to be able to just STFU and watch something and just enjoy it.
Which, naturally, means you can’t STFU about them (us?) not being able to STFU.
That better be uncensored in the episode itself, but I doubt it. It’ll likely jump right into the intro.
Why? Why is the F word so important? These new Trek shows seem obsessed with it for some reason, even though Trek got along fine without it.
F’ing amen, sister! So F’ing sick of their F’ing obsession on this. Just FUBAR all the way! WTF? Stop the mind-F, P+.
It this wasn’t so sad I would LMFAO. Yeah, this obsession is F’d up, and I wish they would just STFU here regarding this. But there is no F’ing way that’s going to happen any F’ing time soon in this F’d up world we live in. F’ing eh, sister…F’ing eh.
Scotty, for F’s sake, beam me off of this cluster-F, F a Duck planet?
The only versions of Star Trek that censored the swear words were broadcast on network TV or syndication. All others, such as movies and streaming services, don’t have that limitation.
F-bombs rarely detonate with any force for me, because it is just human nature, nothing special. There are times in contemporary films when things don’t ring true because it isn’t used, so if anything I think it is under-employed.
Sometimes what can seem like overuse is just being true to character … Treat Williams in PRINCE OF THE CITY has one scene where he uses it over and over and over again and it actually made me laugh in the theater, even though it was probably exactly like what a guy with his background would be reduced to, articulation-wise. (Similarly, SHARKEY’S MACHINE has a scene where Burt Reynolds’ digits get cut off and he sweats monumentally, and it triggered a laugh because, however true that response, it looked like something out of the movie AIRPLANE!)
The last time I was actually ‘shocked’ by the use of an F-bomb (only time ever, actually), was in the movie TRUE CONFESSIONS, when delivered by Robert DeNiro’s Catholic priest character — and it is quite deliberate and totally appropriate.
(I’m so happy that is on blu-ray now, cuz I get to rewatch it at proper definition every year … very few ‘I can watch it just for the acting’ movies on my big list of greats, but this one has always been there … plus as a bonus it has lustrously honest cinematography that I’ve often described as ‘THE GODFATHER minus the Golden Hues’ … DP Owen Roizman had a stretch running more than a decade that demonstrated enormous versatility, ranging from THE FRENCH CONNECTION to TOOTSIE, from THE EXORCIST to TAPS, tho this remains my fave of them all.)
Except for Gordon Willis and Conrad Hall, I think Roizman is the only cinematographer whose presence on the poster was enough to get me to the theater just on its own. Roizman and Jerry Goldsmith may have been the biggest off-camera draws for me, even above most directors.
Amazing! I can’t wait to STFU and enjoy it!
LOL!
That shock clip has one interesting thing going for it, and while I’m not a fan of F bombs, I will say, “Samuel L. Jackson, eat your heart out.” This could be a fascinating (to quote that famous saying) exploration of just who Spock really is at heart, especially with T’Pring, Amanda and others along for the warp-speed ride.
It’d be nice if they “went for it” with the F-bomb, but I don’t recall anything but the most mild TV-PG swearing in season one.
Although this does sound like Faces, I suspect it’s more about the producers wanting another Spock Amok. The basic elements are similar: hilarity ensures as, for whatever reason, Spock is not himself and has to find a way to not only get back to normal, but also deal with his girlfriend and manage an Important Event at the same time.
I mean, it worked before, so, why not?
It’s like you already watched it Will. ;)
The thing is, I have no problem with the occasional bit of profanity coming from humans or Andorians or whatever.
But Vulcans? It’s not that they lack emotions: it’s that they *master* them. Profanity would be taboo for them.
Even if you can accept the bullshit (sorry, I’m just not in a mood to be eloquent after this crappy episode) premise that Spock could magically become human, that doesn’t mean his entire life experience prior to that moment evaporates into thin air. He’s a stoic and has spent his whole life practicing as such.
DNA isn’t destiny. Remember the film LION? If you’re an Indian orphan and adopted out to an Australian family, you don’t lose your Australian culture the moment you set foot in India once again.
It’s so sad that a fan production like STAR TREK CONTINUES could portray Spock having a relationship with a human woman so tenderly and organically, and supposedly professional writers give us this dreck. Pike shows zero leadership in trying to hide the situation.
0.5/10, and that’s probably being generous.
I don’t feel so bad about Amok Time any more. It’s clear that T’Pring simply ran out of patience after going through 10 years of shenanigans.
Lol! Great comment. I didn’t think of that.
Why they even felt the need to introduce this character is beyond me. Yes, Gia Sandhu channels some of the original character well. A big part of the allure of T’Pring was her mystery, that she was betrothed to Spock 30-odd years earlier and not heard from since. Having them fuck like bunnies, and setting up a contrived love triangle with Chapel, and idiotic dinner rituals with equally idiotic customs like mothers-in-law insulting the future couple…I just can’t fathom what the hell this writer’s room is thinking.
I’m WTF looking forward to this…
Oh look, another pointless F bomb out of nowhere.
Well, it’s not entirely pointless here given it’s soooo out of character and that’s the whole point of having him say it. Admiral Clayton and Tilly on the other hand, the “F” bombs didn’t really factor into the story as much.
God, that was awful. One of the worst Star Trek episodes ever, of any series.
C’mon worse than TATV? That’s saying something.
Yes. TATV had some redeeming qualities (and Riker sounds like a better chef than Pike). This was “Threshold” level bad, or “The One in Which Lwaxana and Alexander take a Mud Bath” (can’t remember the name) level bad. The “DNA as magic” science was about on the level of Threshold.
Ethan Peck appears to have spent some time on Rigel VII in real life, because he’s forgotten whatever acting lessons he took since high school, if not before.
I get that Vulcans can act arrogantly, but this was beyond parody. The only saving grace was that I got a chuckle out of T’Pring’s dad, who professed to enjoy Pike’s cooking before being scolded by his harpy-like wife. I probably *shouldn’t* have gotten that chuckle, because he’s probably in an abusive relationship, but what the hell.
I just…am speechless. I don’t know where to begin, and I don’t want to waste 20 minutes of my time writing a more substantive review.
Oh, and another thing. The wife of a good friend of mine died today. I’m in zero mood for stupid mother-in-law stereotypes this evening, even if they were done well, which is the opposite of what we saw here.
Wow, I’m sorry to hear that. And of course I understand.
I feel almost wrong for saying this now, but I thought it was OK at least. But I’m not really debating your points too much. There is some sketchy stuff in this one for sure and Peck probably went a bit overboard lol but you didn’t think it was at least a little fun?
I agree about the Vulcans though. They all come off as pure assholes these days. It’s stunning that first contact happened with them at all the way they look at humans. And do we REALLY smell that bad lol.
I generally like the comedy episodes though, but I know a lot of them can be divisive and this definitely will be. But I still think this is waaaaay better than other bad comedic episodes like Spirit Folk or Profit or Lace.Those are just painful to watch for me.
You never watched the TOS episode of “Spock’s Brain”, did you? Or some of the episodes of the first season of TNG…
I been watching Trek since the late 70s…I just block that episode from my own brain. ;)
Smart Trek is out. Lowest Common Denominator Trek is in.
…and to think that the first six episodes were supposed to be the good part of the season. I shudder to think what we’re in for in the home stretch.
Yes, I had such high hopes for SNW. Some of those hopes were fulfilled during the first season, but the first half of the second has been a major disappointment!
Just wait till the last 5 minutes of the episode – if you think the Kahn timeline situation got fans going crazy…these last 5 minutes will make them go even more so :)
Yeah, some heads might explode.
I gave up at the 28 minute mark. Do I have to go back and finish it?
I watched a YouTuber give a review on this season weeks ago and the two episodes he said that will probably divide fans the most would be episode 3 and 5…and yeah I see what he means now lol.
I have to say, I kinda liked it though. :)
Just watched this and I cannot wait to see all of the opinions on the episode. It’s going to be make a lot of people angry, I feel
I stayed up late to watch it because afterwards, I had a middle-of-the-night conference call with folks in a time zone far away.
The conference call was the best part of my evening.
If that final scene is one of the “big swings” they all keep mentioning then they can keep the rest. Oof.
First episode this season that I genuinely enjoyed. And I feel like I probably shouldn’t have. I did, though, and that’s good enough for me.
Too bad the series isn’t going to get a third season, since the SAG strike is going to lead to it being canceled.
I’m with you on this one. I feel a little guilty for liking it. But after the time travel episode, I’ve pretty much decided that SNW is not connected to TOS, and maybe that’s why I’m enjoying it a little more. This one still had plenty of issues, but if I disconnected and just enjoyed it for what it was, I thought it was very entertaining. Probably the first one this season that didn’t just feel like there were points of wasting time to just waste time. But as someone has already mentioned, maybe people will probably dislike it.
This almost matched Spock Amok for me. I think it’s been a meh second season so far, it’s been pretty disappointing… but this episode has made up for that(I think)
Spock Amok is still a step up for me but I thought this was fun overall though. But I have to agree, the season so far has been more disappointing when compared to season one at this point but still enjoying it. Just close your eyes and think about Picard season 2 again and this feels like a masterpiece lol.
Lol. Yes, PIC season 2 was the worst. I’ve never rewatched any of the episodes( a first for me)
Outside of the first two, I’ve only seen the others once as well.
So true about comparing it to PIC season 2. But as for the comparison to Spock Amok, I actually liked this one a little better since T’Pring was not a central character in the story. Having less of her this time helped in my opinion, but also having her be more on Spock’s side was also more enjoyable as well. But the fact that they’ve already done TWO “Spock Gone Wild” stories in LESS than 20 episodes is a little concerning. TOS did have “The Naked Time” and “This Side of Paradise” within the same season, but Nimoy seemed to do a little better job or balancing the two sides of Spock. They also seemed to have better plot devices and felt different since multiple members of the crew were effected. SNW just seems to have decided that the Spock character is just a great comedic device, and that part is getting old….
I loved this episode, it was fun and Ethan Peck was brilliant. I’ll re-watch it just to enjoy his awesome comedic acting. There were also some emotional scenes but unlike Discovery where they weren’t earned and usually made me roll my eyes, in this episode those emotional scenes had some weight.
Why do they consistently write Spock like he’s an imbecile? They should treat the most important character in Star Trek history with more respect.
…that’s been bothering me as well. Especially this season.
Yep, it’s way out of control. He’s becoming the Neelix of SNW, and that’s not good.
I know Spock was played for laughs a few times in TOS and obviously in Star Trek IV, but at least in TOS it felt earned and ST:IV had them ALL looking like idiots at times. Right now, it just feels like SNW Spock is the primary comedic device for the whole show, and I’m not liking that at all.
Spock was written so well (and taken much more seriously as a character) in Season 2 of DISC. That’s how Ethan Peck came to own the character more credibly than Quinto had. But that good writing is gone and he is fast losing credibility.
I watched last weeks episode with my 11 year old daughter and she kept asking me if I was enjoying it, as neither she nor I have enjoyed modern Trek. Aside from some the odd bit of cringy dialogue, it wasn’t horrible and I actually enjoyed the premise. Much like Discovery, I think SNW has an outstanding cast that is simply let down by the quality of the writing. Strange New Worlds has the potential to be the absolute BEST Science Fiction on television. I’m not holding my breath but I sincerely hope the creatives humble themselves and bring in some true heavy hitting Science Fiction writers for Season 3. I really want Trek to be the best TV has to offer.
I just think it’s too late. Several people have pointed out that other message boards and comment sections (e.g. Reddit) have a lot more people singing SNW’s praises. I feel like TM has a base of more long-term fans who have higher expectations when it comes to the franchise and science fiction. Right now, I don’t think the powers that be are too concerned about either of those concepts, and I feel like the way SNW is going is the way it will stay until it’s gone. Sci-fi just isn’t a big part of the show. I’m pretty sure that’s by design.
Agreed, I think we’ve seen this show go as ‘deep’ as it’s going to. For true sci-fi, look elsewhere.
I agree with you on that last part, but the thing of it is for me, that they aren’t doing anything with the characters to offset that lacking … if anything, the character stuff is even more offputting than the lack of SF, like FIREFLY, but minus both brain and heart.
Trek is Trek….
Still unsure why anyone finds this episode polarizing lol. None of the reasons cited here sound sane or rational.
It’s a fun, light hearted sci-fi premise. Well written and delightfully acted. Wonderful stuff.
Season 2 has been solid but not spectacular, let down mostly by comparisons to the truly stellar first season.
Still better than PIC S3 that everyone explodes over for no good reason.
Wow, i see a lot of people here hate this episode. I found it to be absolutely hilarious in many aspects. Maybe its just me. LOL