Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 8 Delves Into The Trenches - /Film

Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 8 Delves Into The Trenches - /Film,Notable cameo: Clint Howard!

Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 8 Delves Into The Trenches – /Film

In the newest episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” called “Under the Cloak of War,” several members of the Enterprise crew get to openly discuss the consequences of war, and ponder their deep-seated battlefield trauma from the recent Klingon conflict. “Star Trek” has long been a franchise that advocates pacifism, and sees war as — just like in the real world — humankind’s ultimate failing. “Cloak” sees soldiers as either brainwashed into mindless, suicidal sacrifice for ideals that don’t even exist, or as suffering murderers who are constantly living on the brink of madness and violence. It also sees few avenues for healing; once war trauma has taken hold, no act of justice is sufficient to cleanse one’s soul. Everyone gets out stained.

“Strange New Worlds” has been, up until now, a mostly light, often whimsical show about warm, welcoming people. Occasionally, the characters will be stranded in a crashed ship with vicious monsters stalking them, but even the “monster” episodes — for however much death and violence they contain — end up forcing the survivors together. They work together, they survive together, and they even mourn together. The Enterprise crew gets along and functions as a unit. “Under the Cloak of War” is the first time the series has highlighted some of the characters’ irreconcilable differences and fundamental moral disagreements. This is territory ordinarily covered by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”

There’s a potent symbol at the center of “Cloak.” Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) has a biobed in sickbay that constantly breaks and that he cannot repair. It might seem to function most days, but stops working at random intervals. The bed is Dr. M’Benga. Some days he functions. On other days, the hatred and violence of war shines through.

War drugs

Michael Gibson / Paramount+

One might recall in the recent episode “The Broken Circle,” Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) found themselves surrounded by Klingons while on a mission on a remote, non-Federation world. They looked each other hard in the eyes, knowing that it was a desperate situation. Dr. M’Benga then produced two vials of mysterious green medicine, and the pair stared gravely at them. They injected themselves with the medicine, and they instantly became battle ready. They were able to charge a group of attackers with violence in their souls. The drug hyped them up and made them more capable of hand-to-hand combat. They both knew this mysterious green drug was a horrible, horrible thing.

“Under the Cloak of War” explains the origin of this drug, as much of the episode is a flashback to the front lines of the Klingon War, still fresh in most peoples’ heads. Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel were stationed at a remote outpost that was pretty much already lost. The Klingons were bombarding them from orbit, and injured soldiers were beaming into the medical facility pretty much to die in front of their comrades. The high-tech medical tools were all damaged, so everything looked more like the trenches of the Civil War than a miraculous “Star Trek” facility. The doctor and nurse suffer trauma after trauma, watching people die. They try to save the more grievously injured soldiers inside a transporter buffer, but memory is running out …

Eventually, after witnessing the violence and hearing the vicious orders from the Klingon commanders over his communicator (they don’t spare civilians), M’Benga snaps and decides to join the fray. Killing, he finds, is the only metier in wartime. Morality vanishes. Only rage remains. It’s a dark place.

Justice during wartime

Paramount+

The flashbacks are all inspired by a visiting Klingon defector named Dak’Rah, played by reliable character actor Robert Wisdom. Dak’Rah’s visitation to the U.S.S. Enterprise highlights some of Captain Pike’s limitations as a diplomat; when the Klingon walks onto the bridge for the first time, Lieutenant Ortegas (Melissa Navia) is telling a story about how evil Dak’Rah was during the war and that he bore a colorful and violent nom de guerre. It seems Dak’Rath murdered hundreds and gave the above-mentioned order to kill civilians.

Pike (Anson Mount) gives Ortegas a stern look but takes no immediate disciplinary action. Pike may be a warm and friendly commander who invites officers into his personal kitchen for breakfasts, but it seems he is less capable of laying down the law. Pike doesn’t know how to deal with the rage and insubordination of his officers. It’s weirdly comforting to know that even a Starfleet captain has limitations. Pike just wants the unpleasant things to slide past.

Pike’s limitations are on full display at a later dinner scene. After Dak’Rah has been insulted multiple times via myriad microaggressions, Pike insists a dinner will smooth things over. Despite seeing Chapel and M’Benga’s obvious discomfort, and knowing their war history, Pike never steps in. Spock (Ethan Peck) attempts to keep the conversation going by inviting an analysis of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” to Klingon battle texts. Someone should have given Spock the same advice once given to Basil Fawlty: don’t mention the war.

Eventually, M’Benga and Dak’Rath will be able to lay their hearts bare. The Klingon doesn’t want to acknowledge his war crimes. M’Benga is determined to leave morals behind and see that justice is done.

There’s no letting go

John Medland / Paramount+

The episode will end — chillingly — in an ambiguous fashion. An act of violence will be committed, but the precise circumstances of the act and the motivations of the people involved are left hazy. Quite literally; the act is filmed through frosted glass. Regardless, audiences now know that both Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel are permanently infused with violence. They hate it, but it’s something they possess and something they’ll have to live with. They also have murder drugs that the Federation doesn’t know about. There is a supreme — and completely “Star Trek” — idea at play, in that the ship’s two most capable healers are also the ones capable of doing the most harm. They can only hope that Hippocrates wins out over Sun Tzu.

“Under the Cloak of War” is the headiest, heaviest, bleakest episode of “Strange New Worlds” yet. It’s also a whiplash, given that the last episode was a fan-service episode wherein animated characters were thrown into a live-action universe to enact a light comedy story. If anything, “Cloak” reveals a deeper diversity of writing than the show was previously seen capable of. While mostly a friendly comedy show, “Strange New Worlds” has now proven that it can tackle more adult thematic material. Whether or not “Worlds” wants to continue down a more adult path remains to be seen. I do know, however, that one upcoming episode is a musical (!).

Notable cameo: Clint Howard appears in “Cloak” as the jaded Starfleet general who introduces Nurse Chapel into the war zone. When he was about 6, Howard appeared in one of the very first episodes of “Star Trek” in 1966. He officially has the longest-spread career in the franchise’s history.