captain angel star trek

Jesse James Keitel

• View history

Keitel identifies as trans and non-binary and uses the pronouns "she/her". She is best known for her lead role in the crime series Big Sky , which is the first openly transgender regular character played by a transgender performer in American television.

External links [ ]

• Jesse James Keitel at Wikipedia
• Jesse James Keitel at the Internet Movie Database
• Jesse James Keitel at X (formerly Twitter)

Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

• Affably Evil
• Opportunists
• Live Action Villains
• TV Show Villains
• Science Fiction Villains

Captain Angel

• View history

In the mid 23rd century, Angel owned and operated a vessel called Serene Squall , which they used in pirate raids on Federation shipping. Sometime in or before 2259 they were married to the Vulcan Sybok . In 2259 Sybok - who was using the assumed name Xaverius - had been arrested by the El-Keshtanktil and was being held at a rehabilitation facility on the third moon of Omicron Lyrae.

Learning that their half brother-in-law Spock was betrothed to El-Keshtanktil officer T'Pring, they hatched an elaborate plan to capture Spock and the USS Enterprise , and then force a prisoner exchange. Capturing a former Starfleet officer named Dr. Aspen the Serene Squall left them on an isolated planet while Angel assumed Aspen's identity. As Aspen/Angel was able to get on board the Enterprise and work their way into the crew's confidence. Angel and the crew of the Serene Squall managed to capture the Enterprise and take its command crew hostage on the Serene Squall . However, Pike was able to manipulate those left on Angel's ship into mutinying and was then able to capture the ship. Pike and the Enterprise crew intercepted Angel and their crew before they could murder Spock and use backdoor codes to temporarily disable the Federation starship.

Angel beamed off the Enterprise on to a small escape vessel, which they used to get away from the Enterprise before Angel could be taken into custody. Meanwhile the Serene Squall and Angel's crew were all taken into custody by Starfleet. Piecing information provided by Angel to himself and Nurse Christine Chapel , Spock realized that Angel had been trying to spring Sybok from prison - an individual he had been told to avoid at all costs. Pike meanwhile joked to the bridge crew that if they ever caught up with Angel they should be made to walk the plank, to which his first officer said "Please stop" with the pirate talk.

External Links [ ]

• Captain Angel on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki

Navigation [ ]

• 1 Twelve Demon Moons
• 2 The Boiled One

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Jun 17, 2022

RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 107 - 'The Serene Squall'

A routine mission goes awry in the latest episode.

StarTrek.com

Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 7 to follow!

Despite the progress they appeared to make during their body swap in “ Spock Amok ,” T’Pring voices concern about her relationship with Spock and researches human sexuality in an attempt to better understand Spock’s human side. After learning this news during a long-distance video chat, Spock once again consults with Nurse Chapel, whose affection for the science officer foreshadows the feelings she will show for him in episodes of The Original Series .

The U.S.S. Enterprise welcomes Dr. Aspen (Jesse James Keitel), a former Starfleet counselor who now assists colonists at the fringes of Federation space. Assigned to help three colony ships that have been stranded without power for nearly a month, Captain Pike commits to the mission with confidence and compassion. Aspen jokingly notes that Pike is Starfleet’s ‘boy scout,’ a reference that reinforces Admiral Cornwell’s assessment of the captain in Discovery ’s second season.

Aspen cautions the Enterprise crew that pirates operate in the area they are approaching, noting that those from the Serene Squall vessel are particularly nasty. The warning is justified; Enterprise encounters debris from two of the three colonial starships. Pike valiantly opts to venture beyond Federation space to search for the third ship, but dangers abound. The Enterprise becomes temporarily trapped in a Tholian-like energy web emitted from a cluster of asteroids, narrowly escaping as the beams begin to close in.

In a turbolift, Spock and Aspen have an intriguing conversation about Kolinahr , the Vulcan process of purging emotions that the science officer will eventually seek to undergo at the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Later, in Spock’s quarters, Aspen offers a fascinating observation about the way all species try to classify things into boxes, theorizing that Spock’s quest to determine whether he is more Vulcan or human is futile… perhaps he is neither. Given that this profound wisdom is postulated by a non-binary character, it carries even more weight and presents an open-minded way of perceiving the universe.

The Enterprise locates the final colonial vessel; but when Pike beams over with an away team, a boarding party of pirates simultaneously transports to the Federation starship. Number One manages to lock out the Enterprise ’s control systems, but a fierce firefight ensues and the entire crew is taken prisoner, save for Spock, Aspen, and Chapel. The last colonial ship is actually the Serene Squall , and its Orion leader Remy interrogates Pike. In a move that amuses Number One, Pike initiates Alpha Braga IV — creating discord between Remy and his crew in a bid to stoke a mutiny.

In the Enterprise sickbay, Spock determines that he and Aspen must make their way to Engineering to override Number One’s lockout. Aspen reveals that their husband, a Vulcan involved in refugee efforts, had actually been killed by these same pirates. Upon arriving in engineering, the pair find Nurse Chapel armed with a trusty hypospray. Unlike the computer lockout that Data instituted in TNG’s “ Brothers ,” Spock manages to quickly use his authorization to assert control over the ship. At least, until Aspen transfers the controls to the Bridge and divulges that they are actually Captain Angel, the true leader  of the Serene Squall !

On the Bridge, Angel explains that they deposited the real Dr. Aspen on an uninhabited planet and fabricated the entire story about the colonists in distress to prey on the crew’s emotions and lure the Enterprise into a trap. However, Angel’s actual prize is Spock — they hope to coerce T’Pring into exchanging a patient at her rehabilitation institute (who also happens to be Angel’s paramour) for Spock’s safe return. T’Pring agrees to bring the prisoner to the Enterprise’s location. We even get a brief glimpse of her colleague Stonn, of “ Amok Time ” fame, before she departs.

T’Pring soon arrives in the same type of Vulcan cruiser that Sarek traveled in throughout Discovery ’s first two seasons. Spock initiates a ruse to dissuade her from complying with the prisoner exchange. Bolstered by a passionate kiss, Spock claims he and Chapel are having an affair, prompting T’Pring to sever their mating bond. As Angel prepares to destroy T’Pring’s ship, the pirates learn that Pike’s mutiny aboard the Serene Squall succeeded, allowing the captain the opportunity to gain remote control over the Enterprise .

A defeated Captain Angel beams away to a small escape vessel that had been trailing the Enterprise , while their pirate crew surrenders to their Starfleet counterparts. T’Pring returns aboard the Enterprise to rekindle her bond with Spock, and assure him that she was aware his alleged romance with Chapel had been a ploy to deceive Angel. Following this encounter, Spock approaches Chapel to talk about their kiss, but the nurse avoids the topic. However, Spock does confide in Chapel by sharing the identity of the patient Angel sought to free — the other son of Sarek, Spock’s half-brother Sybok!

“The Serene Squall” takes the classic  Enterprise gets boarded theme and infuses it with a brilliant discussion about identity. This story utilizes Spock’s ongoing efforts to balance his Vulcan and human heritage, challenging audiences to stop perceiving all choices as binary. This continues Star Trek’s tradition of presenting forward-thinking ideas subtly embedded into its stories. The episode also continues to hint at Chapel’s feelings for Spock. Perhaps most notably, the introduction of Sybok, the antagonist from the very underrated Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, adds a new layer of intrigue to Strange New Worlds. Will we see Captain Angel again? How will Sybok play into the current narrative? Stay tuned as we continue to explore strange new worlds…

Get Updates By Email

Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Strange New Worlds showrunner all but confirms two popular Star Trek villains will return

Henry Alonso Myers teases more Sybok and Captain Angel.

Sybok will return! But when? After a massive twist in the final moments of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 7, “The Serene Squall,” fans are wondering if and when the surprising storylines set up by this episode will continue. Inverse reached out to showrunner Henry Alonso Myers and got some answers that could only be described as... fascinating. Spoilers ahead.

At the beginning of “The Serene Squall,” a big deal is made about the Enterprise entering an unclaimed area of space beset by pirates. Although this may seem like run-of-the-mill premise, Myers tells Inverse that one of the main goals of Strange New Worlds is to keep reminding the audience that this period of the Star Trek timeline is “the age of exploration.”

Jesse James Keitel’s Captain Angel in Strange New Worlds Episode 7.

Essentially, the Enterprise is frequently “too far away to wait for backup.” In the era of The Next Generation , communication to Starfleet Command was often instantaneous. But in Strange New Worlds “There weren't subspace relays everywhere,” Myers says. “Getting word to Starfleet about entering disputed territory might take longer than you'd like.”

This sense of isolation partially explains why the Enterprise gets boarded by pirates, and why they have to retake the ship without any help from the Federation. But Myers points out that one pirate, in particular, was not created as a one-off.

Captain Angel could be back soon

One of the biggest twists in “The Serene Squall,” is that Dr. Aspen (Jesse James Keitel) is really the pirate leader Captain Angel. This changes the entire trajectory of the episode, and Myers hints that because Angel is alive at the end, the stage has been set for a new recurring villain. Myers doesn’t say when and how Angel could appear again, but did confirm this episode was meant to be an origin story.

“That was the idea; create a charismatic villain who steals the show and whom we want to see again and again,” he says. “We would love to see more of Angel, absolutely.”

The back of Sybok’s head in Strange New Worlds , Episode 7.

The Sybok reveal

For longtime Star Trek fans, the most shocking twist in Episode 7 was perhaps the most unexpected character comeback ever. Throughout the episode, Captain Angel is trying to free their companion, a Vulcan criminal named Xaverius. But based on a few personal references, Spock tells Nurse Chapel that “Xaverius is an assumed name,” and the Vulcan prisoner is really his half-brother Sybok.

First introduced in the critically savaged 1989 film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , the canonical status of Sybok has long been debated by fans. The idea that Spock had a secret sibling who became a cult leader came out of left field, and he hasn’t been mentioned since.

Since 2017, Star Trek: Discovery has established that Spock had another secret sibling growing up, his step-sister Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). But Sybok never appeared in the Discovery flashbacks, leading most fans to suspect Sybok was much older than Spock and Burnham. Then again, in The Final Frontier Spock says he and Sybok were “raised as brothers,” so does Michael know about Sybok too?

Myers dodges this tricky bit of Spock’s childhood by saying, “I don't work on Discovery, so I can't speak to what Michael Burham knows or doesn't know about Sybok.” So that’s up in the air for now.

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) versus Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

But Myers makes it clear that including Sybok in this storyline wasn’t an afterthought. “We always planned it with Sybok,” he says. “It was all about the connection to Spock.”

Strange New Worlds takes place 28 years before Sybok will steal the Enterprise-A in The Final Frontier, which means there’s plenty of wiggle room for Spock and Sybok to have encounters. The last shot of “The Serene Squall” stops short of showing us Sybok’s face, but that rowdy hairstyle is unmistakable.

So will we get to see Sybok again? Is Strange New Worlds setting up a big Sybok showdown? Myers almost confirms it, teasing “When and if we see Sybok again we will see his face, absolutely.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming on Paramount+.

This article was originally published on June 20, 2022

• Science Fiction

Filed under:

How Strange New Worlds built the next great Star Trek villain

Strange New Worlds keeps the episodic storytelling, but adds on a killer big bad

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: How Strange New Worlds built the next great Star Trek villain

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds rocks for a lot of reasons — though most will point to its return to the episodic formula that Star Trek was built on. It’s a throwback to the original series (almost literally, as it takes place a few years before Captain James T. Kirk helms the Enterprise), where most every storyline gets resolved by the time the credits roll.

“The Serene Squall” is different, though it starts like any Star Trek episode: A Dr. Aspen (Jesse James Keitel) summons the Enterprise to help with a humanitarian mission to resupply some colonists on the outskirts of Federation space. The crew (including Captain Christopher Pike) gets kidnapped by space pirates while on a mission, and it’s up to Spock and Dr. Aspen to rescue the ship and its crew.

[ Ed. note: The rest of this post discusses “The Serene Squall” at length. Ye be warned.]

Only — twist! — Dr. Aspen isn’t Dr. Aspen at all, but Captain Angel of the titular Serene Squall, who’s concocted an elaborate ruse specifically to hold Spock captive, in order to trade him for a Vulcan prisoner (and ex-flame).

In an episode where Pike dons an apron over his tactical vest and helms the literal wheel of an enemy cruiser, it’s Keitel’s performance that really carries the vampy, zany energy of “The Serene Squall.” They (Angel’s pronouns; Keitel uses she/her) are not only clearly at ease and having fun in the captain’s chair, but the most indelible Trek villain in a long time. In both the buttoned-up provocativity of Dr. Aspen and the campy glee of Captain Angel, the character is just a lot of fun to watch.

“I got to be 50 shades of chaos,” Keitel says of the experience. “I knew they were a little bad — like, I knew they came in and kind of flipped the script a little bit. But I didn’t know the details of that [...] so I was, like, screaming reading the script.”

While Angel’s schemes are ultimately thwarted by Spock and Nurse Chapel, Star Trek’s favorite Vulcan isn’t so sure he’s seen the last of Angel, or the prisoner he believes they wanted to release. As T’Pring goes to check on a prisoner, we hear Spock say he thinks the prisoner is his half brother Sybok .

Like so much of Strange New Worlds , it’s a name-drop that looms large in the show’s universe, and seems poised to set up the final run of the show’s first season. But director Sydney Freeland (who has helmed movies like Deidra & Laney Rob a Train and will direct Marvel’s upcoming Echo series ) says it was about opening the door to “something bigger down the line.”

“The idea that was presented when I first came on board was that they wanted to use this to try to introduce one of those, like, big, charismatic villain characters that could come back,” Freeland tells Polygon. And it’s more than just Sybok; Captain Angel was just as important a character to seed for something bigger.

“I saw her tape and I was like, Oh, this is fucking perfect . [...] She’s got charisma, she’s got flair, she’s got humanity, she’s got presence,” Freeland says of the decision to build Angel up. “Like, when we first see Khan in the original series, like, Oh, this guy is campy as fuck! [...] He is chewing up the scenery! He is going for it! You can see where they got that idea for how he became that big sort of charismatic presence.”

Keitel admits it was a bit harder to rein that in for the first half of the episode, before the twist, but she knew it was vital.

“I didn’t want it to be super obvious that this person was lying early on,” Keitel says. “So that was kind of a hard challenge for me as an actor, to be earnest and actually get to know Spock. And then, also, I was using him to get closer to my goal of rescuing my husband — who we all know is Sybok.”

Part of getting into character came from the process of being on the Enterprise, surrounded by all the set and costume details that come with a show made decades into the franchise. “The one thing we wanted to avoid was this swashbuckling, like, yar, matey! kind of thing,” Freeland says. “But we still wanted to have a little bit of [showing how] they’re outsiders, whereas on the bridge of the Enterprise, it’s very clean, and a little uniform, and orderly.”

Freeland says one point of reference for her was photos she would see while growing up as a Native Indigenous kid in the Southwest, of Indigenous people in the 1800s, where “you have this sort of Western influences interacting with Native and Indigenous” ones in their clothing.

“So that sort of evolved into a conversation about, like, Oh, is there anything we can do in the Star Trek universe? Are there pieces of Starfleet uniforms that these pirates could have gotten in their raids, and they’ve incorporated them into their uniform — and not only their uniform, but their personality?”

Of course, Angel still stands out from the crowd, not only as a leader but with her costuming. Keitel says the mesh catsuit Angel changes into (while still in disguise as Aspen) changed “everything,” from her posture to her walk. It helped put her in the mindset of Angel, as they try to “disarm Spock in another way, a slightly more seductive way.” And at no point was it an opportunity Keitel took lightly.

“There aren’t a lot of trans women working in Hollywood, especially not in sci-fi, especially not on a legacy show like Star Trek. And so I knew my being there could be impactful, or could be a major misstep,” she says. “I think it’s really exciting to have not just a queer-coded villain, but a villain who actually is queer.

“I think oftentimes, recently in Hollywood, people are scared of making trans people the villain. We’re constantly being villainized in the media; we’re constantly being villainized in legislation. You can’t turn on the news without seeing either trans people get hate-crimed or an attempt to legislate us out of existence. So an opportunity to be a sexy, unapologetically daring villain is a dream, you know? We’re not villains in real life, so can’t I get to play a space pirate on Star Trek?”

Though neither Freeland nor Keitel knows (or will say) what’s next for future Angel and Sybok escapades, they’re just as excited to meet her again as the rest of us.

“Starfleet going to the different corners of the galaxy and, you know, they have good intentions, but sometimes those good intentions don’t always manifest as such. And what are the consequences of that?” Freeland asks. The Strange New Worlds director says she hopes the audience identifies and sympathizes with Keitel’s character, and can feel like, You know, they’ve got a point.

Star Trek: Discovery tore itself apart for the good of Star Trek’s future

Star trek: discovery boldly goes where no trek has gone before by saying religion is... ok, actually, star trek: discovery is cracking open a box next gen closed on purpose.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

• Akiva Goldsman
• Alex Kurtzman
• Jenny Lumet
• Anson Mount
• Christina Chong
• 1K User reviews
• 38 Critic reviews
• 9 wins & 33 nominations total

Episodes 31

• Captain Christopher Pike …

• La'an Noonien-Singh …

• Lt. Erica Ortegas …

• Una Chin-Riley …

• Nurse Christine Chapel

• Nyota Uhura …

• Dr. M'Benga

• USS Enterprise Computer …

• Lieutenant George Samuel 'Sam' Kirk

• Jenna Mitchell

• Captain Batel …

• Admiral Robert April

• Captain James T. Kirk …

• T'Pring
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Bruce Horak , the actor who plays Hemmer, is legally blind, just like his character's species, the Aenar, who are also blind.
• Goofs There are some rank insignia mistakes. Number One is introduced as "Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley" yet she is wearing the rank insignia of a full commander: two full stripes. A Lieutenant Commander's rank insignia is a full stripe under a thin stripe (in TOS it is a full stripe and a staggered stripe). It is not uncommon for a ship's first officer to be a Lt. Commander if they have not been in the position long. Spock at this point is a Lieutenant but he is wearing Lieutenant Commander's stripes; a Lieutenant just has one stripe. La'an is the ship's chief of security and the ship's second officer. She is also wearing Lt. Commander stripes but is addressed as a Lieutenant, but it would make more sense for her to be a Lieutenant Commander. Either way both of their rank insignia are not matching the rank they are addressed by. Ortegas is addressed as a Lieutenant but is wearing Lieutenant Commander's strips. A Lieutenant Commander may be addressed as a Commander or Lieutenant Commander but never as just a Lieutenant, so either her rank insignia or the manner she is addressed by the rest of the crew is in error.

[opening narration]

Captain Christopher Pike : Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: Woke Hollywood is FAILING, and That's a Good Thing (2022)

User reviews 1K

• Supermanfan-13
• Sep 22, 2023

Technical specs

• Runtime 52 minutes
• D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• The Inventory

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' Space Pirate Episode Was Y'aaarsome

"the serene squall" went in on three s's: spock, sex.. and space-pirates. shush, it's hyphenated, it works..

After last week’s attempts at more moral complexity didn’t quite hit the mark , this week Star Trek: Strange New Worlds re-centered on what’s worked for it in the past: a camp, tropey bit of action hung around a central member of the Enterprise crew. This time, Ethan Peck’s Spock took the limelight again—and although this was a little more self-serious on the surface than the last time that happened , we still had a lot of fun along the way.

Related Content

Mostly, because this was perhaps the second most fun alternative episode premise you could hang a Spock/T’Pring episode on than “accidental body swap shenanigans,” really: space pirates!

“The Serene Squall” opens with the revelation that Spock and T’Pring are still undergoing some learning phases in their courtship. Having shared their katras in “Spock Amok” to gain an unexpected level of understanding of each other, now it’s time for T’Pring (returning guest star Gia Sandhu) to make Spock deeply uncomfortable about his long-distance relationship by recounting all the reading on human sex that she’s been doing while he’s away. It’s a fun comedic moment, but it sets the stage for what’s going to be the heart of the episode—Spock still trying to reconcile his nature as half-Vulcan and half-human, and his struggle with feelings all over the place isn’t helped when he turns to Nurse Chapel for advice as the two make their way to a meeting, with clear sparks flying between them (even if Spock is a little too distracted to truly notice, as she mocks him).

The meeting is for the Enterprise ’s latest mission: they’ve been tasked with helping a group of Federation colonists out on the border of the utopian civilization’s space, where, well, things are not really as utopian as the Federation’s ideals would like to think they are. Working with an independent aid relief worker named Dr. Aspen (guest star Jessie James Keitel, who steals the show for reasons we’ll get into soon enough), the Enterprise finds out it’s suddenly on less of a relief mission and more of a rescue one when hundreds of colonists turn out to have been captured by a pirate vessel called the Serene Squall , destined to be sold into slavery beyond Federation borders.

Coming off last week’s myriad twists and layers being awkwardly peeled back, this is once again a refreshingly straightforward narrative for Strange New Worlds , and all the better for it. From the get-go we know what the Enterprise is up against, and what we are as an audience too: you’ve got your Space Pirates, you’ve got your Spock/T’Pring emotional drama, and away you go. The strength in this simplicity is enhanced even further by layering in Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel into the mix, who finally gets plenty to do this episode and really sells the personal conflict between herself and any lingering feelings she has for Spock beyond friendship, setting the stage for some of the eventual relationship status quo we go on to see in the original Star Trek .

Not to contrast this week and last week’s episode too much, but what also worked? This episode has just one twist instead of like three negating each other! After Pike leads an away team over to the Squall to try and find the colonists, the Enterprise finds itself under assault in a trap, as the pirates beam aboard and begin taking over the ship. After some fun action of the crew repelling the invaders—and a delightful action sequence for Chapel when she gets momentarily caught sneaking around—it’s revealed that Dr. Aspen isn’t Dr. Aspen at all, but Captain Angel, the true leader of the Squall crew who’s been hatching a dastardly plan to lure the Enterprise way. Keitel was already having a bunch of fun in her role before this, but with the reveal of Captain Angel they come to the fore as perhaps the best guest star Strange New Worlds has had so far. Fabulously dressed in a sort of sci-fi punk pirate laced jumpsuit, vamping it up from Pike’s chair on the bridge, her complete and utter joy to be playing this camp pirate queen cackling about their plans while still feeling like a credible threat to Spock and the captured Enterprise crew leaps off the screen.

This fun is matched aboard the Squall too, when the captured away team, Pike in particular, decides to lean into the comedy as well and play dumb in an attempt to get the remaining pirates to stage a mutiny against Angel’s temporary replacement in command, an Orion named Remy. It’s a rare opportunity that Anson Mount has had on the series so far to just kind of be a goofball, and yet it’s an incredibly charming turn, balancing a fine like between feeling like you’re watching people have a ton of fun but making the stakes still feel somewhat real. Plus, it just works: this is the crew of the Federation’s flagship vessel, and as clever as Angel is, their crew is still a bunch of greedy pirates. The Enterprise team knows it can dance around these folks even with their backs against the wall, and so the cockiness and general humor on display feels earned.

It all comes to a head when Angel reveals their true plan: they don’t want the Enterprise , they want Spock, specifically, knowing that they can leverage his life as a prisoner exchange with T’Pring, using the Starfleet officer to spring a former lover from the Vulcan facility T’Pring works at rehabilitating Vulcans that have chosen violent emotionality over logic, known as the V’tosh ka’tur. The plan is foiled, but seemingly at a cost, when Spock stops T’Pring from giving into her feelings for him with a hell of a gambit—publicly breaking off their engagement by revealing an apparent affair with Nurse Chapel. Naturally, things are eventually revealed as a hoodwink even if Sandhu in particular does a really great job of at least layering in a feeling that T’Pring is genuinely hurt by this moment (including watching an, uh, extended makeout scene on the bridge between Spock and Chapel). Yes, by episode’s end it’s revealed she logically deduced the ruse and is just a very good actor, but it adds to the drama between herself, Spock, and now Chapel in a really interesting way.

Without that layer, this could’ve felt like a peculiar retread of “Spock Amok,” and in some ways it is—tempered even further by the fact that if you are indeed a diehard Trekkie watching Strange New Worlds , you know where all this is going to go by the time of the original Star Trek . And yet, it still works, even if it’s a little less effective at mining the Spock/T’Pring relationship, because like “Spock Amok,” “The Serene Squall” is a really fun adventure anchored in simple, effective storytelling that gives this re-investigation of Spock’s interiority time to breath. That, and once again, it cannot be overstated just how much the fun of this episode works because of Jessie James Keitel just having a total blast with her performance—even when hoodwinked by Spock and T’Pring and unable to free their partner, their getaway from the Enterprise has me filled with hope Angel will show up again at some point in the future.

And they might do, because with the day saved and the Enterprise out of the pirate’s hands—and even with the lingering possibility of Chapel really having feelings for Spock, in spite of his renewed relationship with T’Pring and their conversation about remaining very good friends after all’s said and done—“The Serene Squall” throws one last curveball that had me hooting and hollering in delight. The final moments of the episode, narrated by Spock’s chat with Chapel, take us back to T’Pring’s work at the V’tosh ka’tur rehab facility on Vulcan, where it’s revealed to us—and through Spock, to Chapel—that the true identity of Angel’s partner is none other than Sybok , son of Sarek, Spock’s secret half-brother from The Final Frontier .

It’s... so much. On the surface, it’s very funny that Star Trek in its contemporary form simply cannot save itself from exploring Spock’s Secret Siblings (oh hey, the other secret three s’s of this episode!) between this and Burnham on Discovery . But it’s also just an incredibly deep cut move for Spock’s arc on Strange New Worlds . Sybok’s a deep cut Trek reference mostly because people simply do not want to remember Star Trek V at the best of times, but the potential to re-visit the character in the wake of Spock’s relationship with Michael—and now Strange New Worlds ’ examination of the struggle he feels between human emotionality and Vulcan logic—offers a chance to do what is otherwise a frankly absurd, kind of bad part of Star Trek ’s history the justice an idea such as this deserves.

Strange New Worlds ’ strength in this debut season, as “The Serene Squall” continues to prove, is in relishing this episodic, on-to-the-next-thing nature, but with Sybok in the picture? This has to be something we’ll be revisiting again. Going right back into Spock and T’Pring’s relationship this episode so soon after “Spock Amok” already felt like a hint the show was laying down some continuing roots to go alongside its episodic explorations, but with Sybok being teased, it feels like more Vulcan drama is definitely on the way. At the very least, I want more opportunities to laugh at the idea that Spock told Nurse Chapel and, potentially, even more members of the Strange New Worlds crew about his stupid half-brother but kept him a secret from Kirk and Bones by the time of The Final Frontier . We can but dream!

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

• Gameumentary
• Review in 3 Minutes
• Design Delve
• Extra Punctuation
• Zero Punctuation
• Area of Effect
• Escape the Law
• In the Frame
• New Narrative
• Out of Focus
• Slightly Something Else
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Affiliate Policy

In ‘The Serene Squall,’ Strange New Worlds Discovers the Limits of Allegory

This discussion and review contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 7, “The Serene Squall.”

There is an interesting allegory at the heart of “The Serene Squall,” but it ends up muddled by a clumsy and thoughtless execution.

The actual plot of “The Serene Squall” is standard Strange New Worlds stuff, a grab bag of familiar Star Trek tropes assembled in a fairly unimaginative manner to fill around 50 minutes of television. Ironically for a series that many claim is returning the franchise to its roots, it is a “space pirate” episode built around one of the most tired of space opera clichés — and one that Gene Roddenberry expressly forbade on The Next Generation , according to Jeri Taylor .

Of course, that never actually stopped the franchise. Space pirate adventures became a staple of the later series following Roddenberry’s death, with examples like “ Gambit ” on The Next Generation or the mirror universe episodes on Deep Space Nine . “The Serene Squall” blends that template with a familiar hijacking narrative, recalling episodes like “ Starship Mine ,” “ Basics ,” “ The Killing Game ,” “ One Little Ship ,” and “ Shockwave, Part II .”

Even smaller moments feel ripped from other episodes. Early in the adventure, the ship is trapped within “a net, except made with lasers” that “appears to be growing smaller,” evoking the central premise of “ The Tholian Web .” The climax of the episode, in which Spock (Ethan Peck) has to stage a theatrical declaration of love, recalls a similar sequence at the climax of “ Ménage à Troi ” in which Picard (Patrick Stewart) has to espouse his love for Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett Roddenberry).

It’s all standard stuff. At best, it allows Anson Mount to be charming in an underwritten subplot. At worst, it encourages Irish guest actor Michael Hough to present the franchise’s most cringeworthy take on Irishness this side of “ Spirit Folk ,” if not “ Up the Long Ladder .” There is very little of particular note here. Like the previous six episodes, it consists of familiar elements arranged in familiar patterns, better than some earlier examples from the franchise’s history and worse than others.

The most interesting stuff in “The Serene Squall” is all happening in subtext, in the way in which the episode is built around the character of Spock. Building off the character’s long history as “ a child of two words ,” “The Serene Squall” returns to the classic tension within the science officer’s character. As somebody who is half-human and half-Vulcan, which path does he walk? This arc was a source of fantastic character drama for both Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto.

It is to the credit of Strange New Worlds in general and “The Serene Squall” in particular that the episode finds a fresh new angle on this question, by suggesting that the answer might be “neither.” As Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel) advises Spock before abandoning the Enterprise, “That is and always has been a false choice. The question isn’t what you are; it’s who you are.” Spock doesn’t need to define himself by the false binary of being either human or Vulcan. He is Spock.

It’s a genuinely thoughtful angle on a familiar character arc. More than that, it works as an effective metaphor for evolving understandings of gender, specifically the idea that one’s gender need not be biologically determined or strictly binary. “The Serene Squall” reinforces this subtext by casting Keitel in the role of Angel, the character confronting Spock with these ideas. Keitel was famously the first openly trans and non-binary series regular on primetime American network television .

This is a logical evolution for Spock as a character. Spock has been a queer icon since the original Star Trek . Kirk and Spock were the original “slash” pairing . Gene Roddenberry would famously write in his novelization that Spock thought of Kirk as his “ t’hy’la ,” a term that can mean “friend,” “brother,” and “lover.” Spock’s status as an outsider, the challenges that he faced in presenting himself to the outside world, and his difficult relationship with his own identity all resonated with queer fans .

“The Serene Squall” layers this subtext into its teleplay. When Pike (Mount) instructs Ortegas (Melissa Navia) to get the ship closer to a distress signal, she couches scales of distance in overtly sexual terms, asking, “First date or third date?” He replies, “Blind date.” The episode finds the Enterprise venturing into “non-Federation space,” which Pike describes as “this quadrant’s wild, wild west” and that appears to be outside of Klingon influence as well, rejecting its own rigid binaries.

For decades, this was how Star Trek dealt with issues around sexuality. Producer David Livingston ran down to the set of “ The Offspring ” to prevent a shot of two same-sex extras holding hands . In his exit interview following his departure from the franchise in 1999 , writer Ronald D. Moore made it clear that the “ people in charge don’t want gay characters ” in the franchise. Deep Space Nine had to deal with homosexuality through allegory in episodes like “ Rejoined ” or “ Chimera .”

Whatever problems one might have with Star Trek: Discovery , the show has at least been more courageous than its predecessors in portraying characters with these sorts of sexual identities. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Culber (Wilson Cruz) were the franchise’s first openly gay couple , allowing for the implication of such a coupling in Star Trek Beyond . Adira (Blu del Barrio) and Gray Tal (Ian Alexander) were a couple composed of a non-binary human and a transgender Trill .

With this in mind, it feels disappointing that Strange New Worlds is effectively pushing Spock back into what film historians have described as “ the celluloid closet ,” dealing with queerness through allegory and metaphor rather than simply accepting it as a reality of life. Surely, it would be more interesting and more organic to have a member of the cast actually explore their sexual identity, rather than couching it in metaphor. Indeed, it would be interesting to see Spock himself explore it.

This is illustrative of how Strange New Worlds feels regressive in its nostalgic yearning to recapture the spirit of older Star Trek . There are any number of valid criticisms of modern Star Trek , but the franchise’s recent history has done a much better job tackling issues around sex and sexuality than the era that Strange New Worlds so heavily evokes. Even “Chimera” understood that the franchise’s inability to confront these themes directly represented a failure of the franchise’s utopian idealism .

Strange New Worlds reduces this theme of sexual identity to metaphor and, in doing so, muddles a fairly straightforward theme. After all, Spock receives these lectures on being true to himself from a character who spends most of the episode pretending to be someone they are not. “I must point out the irony of you questioning my identity,” Spock states, and he is not wrong. Keitel is great in the role of Angel, particularly vamping it up after the turn, but it undermines the story’s core theme.

While the episode certainly doesn’t intend this reading, it is unfortunate that “The Serene Squall” arrives in a culture where trans people are often ( incorrectly ) framed as predators lying about their identity for nefarious purposes . It is similar to the big problem with “ Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach ,” which has been read by some reviewers as a parable that argues that the death of innocent children is a small price to pay for the Second Amendment . Metaphor must be used carefully.

Befitting a Star Trek show that draws so heavily from Voyager , there is a curious reactionary streak to “The Serene Squall.” Early in the episode, it is revealed that “entering non-Federation space requires Starfleet approval.” This seems unusually isolationist and paranoid for the Federation, given both the title of the show and Pike’s promise in the opening monologue to “go where no one has gone before.” It is hard to explore any new worlds without leaving familiar territory.

The problem is compounded by the revelation that the entire mission was a ruse concocted by Angel. Pike is lured into the darkness because he believes that people outside Federation space need his help. He is motivated by humanism and concern. Indeed, the decision to imply that the crew is dealing with human rights abuses “on the border” has particularly pointed connotations given the well-documented events occurring on the border between the United States and Mexico .

Outside of the premiere , Strange New Worlds has been reluctant to engage with contemporary politics, but that is an interesting hook. After all, allowing for some issues in its first season, Picard has been quite explicit in its commentary on the contemporary immigration crisis . However, it is all a ruse. “I told a nice little story that I knew would bring you out here, and you believed me,” Angel confesses. “Frankly, that’s on you.” They state, “I’ve been using emotion to sway you all day.”

Again, it is a horrifically muddled metaphor. Recalling Voyager episodes like “ Displaced ” or “ Day of Honor ,” suddenly “The Serene Squall” becomes a paranoid conspiracy theory about how the humanitarian crisis on the border is really just a sinister ploy being played on gullible idiots to allow criminal gangs to infiltrate and take over existing structures . It is the most cynical and reactionary take on the premise imaginable. Then again, maybe Strange New Worlds is evoking Voyager .

“The Serene Squall” also leans heavily on established continuity, (re-)introducing both the character of Stonn (Roderick McNeill) and acknowledging Spock’s half-brother Sybok, who is played by an extra so the role could be recast with a more famous actor. All this serves to make the Star Trek universe seem small and incestuous. “The Serene Squall” becomes a story about Angel hijacking Spock’s ship to convince Spock’s fiancée to release Spock’s half-brother. It’s all frustratingly insular.

Then again, that is perhaps Strange New Worlds in a nutshell. It often feels like a Star Trek show too enthusiastically heading backwards to boldly go anywhere new.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Latest Episode Featured Two Major Callbacks To The O.G. Series And Film Lore

These were some big Star Trek references!

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "The Serene Squall" are ahead!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has proven itself as an incredibly popular addition to the sci-fi franchise, pleasing both longtime Trek fans and being a perfect entry point for newcomers . One of the ways this series stands out from Discovery and Picard is by being episodic rather than serialized, meaning while certain character beats are followed up on here and there, each Strange New Worlds episode can followed along with easily enough on its own. Having said that, the latest episode of Strange New Worlds (which is accessible with a Paramount+ subscription ) featured two major callbacks that fans of Star Trek: The Original Series and its associated lore will appreciate.

The events of “The Serene Squall” saw Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise dealing with the pirates from the title ship. Our intrepid protagonists were joined by Jesse James Keitel’s Dr. Aspen , who was initially presented at a former Starfleet counselor who was now doing humanitarian work at the edge of non-Federation space. However, it was later revealed that Aspen was actually Captain Angel, leader of these pirates. This episode also returned another appearance from Gia Sandhu’s T’Pring, Spock’s betrothed, and it’s through her and Angel that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds delivered these O.G. callbacks. First, let’s go over how this episode ended. 

Sybok Cameos At The End Of "The Serene Squall"

After their true identity was revealed, Captain Angel made it clear she wasn’t looking to permanently capture the Enterprise for their crew or sell off the ship’s crew members into slavery. Instead, they were specifically looking to use Spock as a bargaining chip; it turns out that one thing Angel didn’t lie about was having a Vulcan lover. She said his name was Xaverius, and rather than being dead, he was actually being held at Ankeshtan K’til, the criminal rehabilitation center on Omicron Lyrae where T’Pring worked. Angel intended to trade Spock for Xaverius, but to make a long story short, the antagonist failed to make this happen, though they nonetheless managed to escape.

During Captain Angel’s attempted negotiation with T’Pring, Spock realized that he’d deduced who Xaverius really was, and at the end of “The Serene Squall,” Spock informed Christine Chapel that Angel’s lover was actually Sybok, his half-brother (and thus another adoptive brother of Star Trek: Discovery ’s Michael Burnham). Spock and Sybok share the same father, Sarek, but unlike Spock, Sybil is one of the V’tosh ka’tur, Vulcans who have rejected the teachings of logic. The name Sybok won’t mean anything to new Star Trek fans, but anyone who’s seen Star Trek V: The Final Frontier will instantly remember him.

Sybok was played in the 1989 movie by Laurence Luckinbill, with James T. Kirk and his crew crossing paths with the renegade Vulcan as he searched for an entity he perceived to be God. I won’t spoil what happens in The Final Frontier for those who haven’t seen it, but it is worth noting that is considered one of the Star Trek film series’ lesser entries ( even William Shatner thinks it sucks ). No actor is listed for who played Sybok at the end of “The Serene Squall,” though given the way the character was framed, there’s a good chance a more well-known actor could take over the role at a later date. 

Still, with a setup like that, it’s pretty clear we’ll see Sybok again in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , although whether that’ll be before Season 1 finishes or sometime in Season 2 (which is when we’ll meet Paul Wesley’s James Kirk ) remains to be seen. Either way, perhaps Sybok’s time on this Star Trek series will improve the character’s reputation. And while there’s no sign that Strange New Worlds will abandon its episodic format, I could easily see Sybok serving as a “big bad.”

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News

Stonn Also Briefly Appears In "The Serene Squall"

During our brief check-in with T’Pring at Ankeshtan K’til in “The Serene Squall,” we saw her being informed by a Vulcan named Stonn, played by Roderick McNeil, that she’d received a subspace transmission from the Enterprise. This callback was way more ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ compared to the Sybok reveal, but Stonn isn’t any random Vulcan. Back during Star Trek: The Original Series ’ run, he played a key role in the Season 2 premier, “Amok Time,” where he was played by Lawrence Montaigne.

Unlike with Sybok, I will share spoilers about Stonn's future in Star Trek: The Original Series , so feel free to read another one of CinemaBlend’s articles if you’re a Star Trek newcomer and want to stay as fresh as possible. Sorry to those of you who want Spock and T’Pring to have a bright future together, but it’s not happening. In “Amok Time,” Spock returned to Vulcan and learned that T’Pring (played here by Arlene Martel) that she no longer wished to marry him, instead preferring Stonn. You’re welcome to watch the episode for yourself to see how things specifically unfolded from there, but by the end, Spock willingly cut ties with T’Pring, leaving her and Stonn to start a life together. However, Spock cautioned Stonn that having the Vulcan woman might not be as pleasing to him as wanting her.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has shown that although Spock and T’Pring’s relationship is on slightly unsteady ground, these two are nonetheless committed to each other. However, there’s roughly a decade between Strange New Worlds Season 1 and the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series , so at some point during that time, T’Pring will realize she no longer wishes to marry Spock. With Stonn’s brief appearance in “The Serene Squall,” the foundation has been established for him and T’Pring to start building their own relationship, although even assuming Strange New Worlds delves into this subplot, keep in mind might not happen for a while given the large gap in time between “The Serene Squall” and “Amok Time.”

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere Thursdays on Paramount+ . Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on this series and the streaming service’s other Star Trek shows .

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

'Pretty In Pink': Britney Spears Is Ready For Bikini Weather, And Hot Pink Is The Color Of The Week

What's Going On With Netflix's BioShock Movie? Everything That's Been Said About The Video Game Adaptation

‘I Had To Interject Things That Are Happening In My Life:’ Jeremy Renner Candidly Told Me How His Injuries Impacted His Mayor Of Kingstown Character

Most Popular

• 2 I Finally Watched A24's Civil War And There Is One Scene I Can't Stop Thinking About
• 3 'I Felt Insane And Foolish:' Tom Hiddleston Shares The Story Behind The Iconic Hulk Vs. Loki Scene In The Avengers
• 4 'Get Her A F---ing Robe': Emilia Clarke On Landing Game Of Thrones And How Jason Momoa Came To Her Aid When She Didn't Realize What She'd Gotten Into With Nude Scenes
• 5 3 Things I Really Loved About Season 1 Of X-Men '97... And 2 Things I Hope They Fix In Season 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7 review: "Spock and the Enterprise crew shine"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

‘The Serene Squall’ is undeniably Spock’s episode but it’s also an opportunity for the rest of the Enterprise crew to shine. Jesse James Keitel quickly establishes Captain Angel as a villain to watch – we’re sure they’ll be back – but in the long term it’s the return of Spock’s black-sheep-of-the-family sibling, Sybok, that will dominate the headlines. Don’t expect this family reunion to go well…

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Warning: This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7 review contains major spoilers – many of them set to stun. Boldly go further at your own risk…

His mother famously hailed from Earth, but Spock has always been happiest when embracing the Vulcan side of the family tree. Over his decades on the Enterprise bridge, he’s often been found purging himself of human "weaknesses" like emotions, but this entertaining episode eloquently explores the idea that he shouldn’t have to make that choice – and that maybe it’s time to accept that simply being Mr. Spock is enough.

Seeing as he’s been a lead character in the original series/movies, J.J. Abrams ’ reboot, and now Strange New Worlds – as well as turning up as a special guest star in The Next Generation – you could be forgiven for thinking the franchise has already explored every facet of its most famous character. ‘The Serene Squall’ suggests we still haven’t reached peak Spock, however, as his efforts to reconcile conflicting aspects of his dual heritage dovetail neatly with this week’s mission into non-Federation space.

In a break with Strange New Worlds tradition, the scene-setting log entry comes from a non-crew member, as T’Pring takes a break from her duties at the Ankeshtan K’til rehabilitation center – based on the third moon of Omicron Lyrae, in case you’re wondering. Using a phrase we never thought we’d hear uttered by Vulcan lips, she talks of her plans to "spice things up" in her long-distance relationship with Spock, and her exploration of 20th-century erotic fiction leaves her fiancé looking hilariously flustered. “She appears more eager to explore my humanity than I am,” he tells his confidante/in-house relationship guru Nurse Chapel, Ethan Peck once again showing his deftness playing the lighter side of Spock. The decision not to imitate the legendary Leonard Nimoy in his performance continues to pay dividends – and makes canonical sense, considering this is a younger, less fully formed version of the Spock who’ll later serve alongside Captain Kirk. 

While his science officer is distracted by matters of the heart, Captain Pike has some missing colonists to find. Visiting aid worker Dr. Aspen says the ships lost power 26 days ago, and that – trapped in what Pike describes as "the quadrant’s version of the wild, wild west" – they’re at risk from space pirates who’ll think nothing of selling them into slavery. And so, the Enterprise’s very own "boy scout" – the description is literally in Pike’s file – decides to take the ship on a rescue mission, refusing to hang around for the two days it’ll take approval to arrive from Starfleet: "I’m not waiting to be told it’s okay to keep people off the auction block," he points out.

A fake distress signal quickly lures the Enterprise into a "net… made of lasers" and to make matters worse, it’s shrinking rapidly. Spock shoots down the asteroid that’s the source of the trap, but he can’t get his logical mind around the fact he made a life and death decision based on a hunch.

Dr. Aspen (a nonbinary character, played by trans actor Jesse James Keitel of Big Sky and Queer as Folk fame) is clearly intrigued by Spock and his struggle to come to terms with two different sides of himself. "All species put things into boxes," Aspen points out. "You’re either this, or you’re that – and sometimes we act a certain way to fit people’s expectations, but that’s not necessarily who we are. And sometimes, like on the bridge just now, that can limit us." It’s a positive, inclusive message that captures what Trek’s idealistic future should be about. Indeed, with the aid of canon-shaped hindsight, it’s sad to know that Spock will continue to struggle with his identity for years to come.

There’s little time for further reflection, however, because those space pirates aren’t playing games. A clever piece of transporter room sleight of hand leaves Pike, La’an, and their away team trapped on what they believe to be a colonist ship, while a bunch of heavily armed hijackers sneak on board to take over the Enterprise. Only a conveniently placed Jefferies Tube and some cleverly placed Vulcan neck pinches keep Spock, Aspen, and Chapel out of harm’s way when the rest of the crew end up banged up on the eponymous Serene Squall.

Given the efficiency of their Enterprise hijack, the pirates are a remarkably ill-disciplined bunch, seemingly more interested in embracing their over-familiar brand of Mad Max-style apocalypse chic than following any chain of command. Their leader, an Orion named Remy, is suitably impressed with Pike’s jawline – disappointingly, his efforts to rough up the captain display rather less respect for that gravity-defying quiff – but he has such a weak hold over his subordinates that Pike simply has to cook a nice meal to sow the seeds of mutiny.

But Remy was never the real brains of the operation, a fact that becomes clear as soon as Dr. Aspen lets slip that there was always more to their presence on the Enterprise than being Spock’s counselor. In fact, it turns out they’ve been playing games the whole time and the Aspen identity was just a front for the infamous Captain Angel, who – having cleverly manipulated Spock from the start – is now in a prime position to take over the Enterprise.

It’s not the most surprising of twists, but it’s made entirely worthwhile by Keitel’s wonderfully OTT performance. Angel looks totally at home in the captain’s chair, and it’s instantly clear that this is someone who leads by sheer force of charisma while taking no small amount of pleasure in their day job. They’re the character Discovery season 3 baddie Osyraa should have been before she regressed into a pantomime villain.

The solution comes in a fun twist on the hackneyed old "love conquers all" trope. After T’Pring responds to the subspace ransom note Angel’s put on her boyfriend’s head, Spock uses the medium of an extremely passionate kiss to convince everyone on the bridge that he’s having an affair with Chapel. T’Pring subsequently claims she never bought the deception for a second but – as this season has shown on several occasions – Vulcans are rather better at lying than they traditionally claim.

Pike and co. taking control of the Serene Squall – and "gently" firing at the Enterprise’s impulse engines to disable the ship – is a little too easy to be believable. Even so, that’s a small complaint in an episode that repeatedly plays to Strange New Worlds’ strengths. There’s now little doubt that this is the best Star Trek ensemble since The Next Generation, whether it’s Ortegas using dating analogies on the bridge – surely she’s due her own episode soon – or Pike acting as if it’s "International Talk Like a Pirate Day". Special mention should also go to Jess Bush’s turn as Christine Chapel. In the original series, the character was often unfairly reduced to standing around while the men did the talking, but this new, prequel incarnation is now one of the show’s most three-dimensional characters. Her scenes with Spock are a mix of obvious chemistry, and painfully inevitable heartbreak.

The episode saves its biggest moment until last, however, when Spock realizes that Angel’s wayward Vulcan husband is actually a character with significant Trek history. While many have tried to forget the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Spock’s half-brother, Sybok, should be familiar as the pain-absorbing mystic who took the Enterprise on a frequently mocked mission to find God. Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds have never been scared to mine past Trek lore, but heading back to Star Trek V really is going where no one has gone before.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently airing now in the US on Paramount Plus. The streaming service launches in the UK on June 22. For more, check out our guide to the Star Trek timeline .

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy. 

The most beloved modern Star Trek shows are both getting renewed, but there's sad news for one of them

Star Trek legend calls his Strange New Worlds season 3 murder-mystery “the best episode of television I’ve ever done"

Solo dev behind indie roguelike hit Balatro threatens us with a good time, might "bloat this game with even more banana lore"

Most Popular

Captain Angel

Not in the portal

Captain Angel is a Legendary [5-star] crew member.

Captain Angel is a version of Angel from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "The Serene Squall" (1x07) .

The deceptive captain of the Serene Squall. Angel posed as Doctor Aspen to gain access to the Enterprise and the trust of the crew.

Advancement

These items are required by Captain Angel in order to advance through groups of levels.

Away Team Skills

Ship Ability and Bonuses

• Captain Angel was added March 2023.
• Pages using DynamicPageList parser function
• Engineering
• Ruthless Aggression
• Criminal Mind
• 2 Crew Collections
• Crew Not In Portal
• Variant of Angel
• Crew infobox invalid character
• Crew added 2023
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• New ATS Template

Navigation menu

Screen Rant

Why discovery is ending with season 5 & what it means for star trek.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

Discovery’s ending sets a star trek record & creates 2 new admirals, 12 amazing characters discovery gave star trek.

• Star Trek: Discovery ending after season 5 marks a significant shift in the Star Trek universe on Paramount+.
• Discovery's success set the stage for new series like Picard, Lower Decks, and Prodigy on Paramount+.
• The decision to end Discovery is part of the evolving business landscape of streaming services like Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery ending with season 5 came as a surprise and causes a ripple effect to the Star Trek franchise on Paramount+. On March 2, 2023, the announcement came that Discovery season 5 will be its final season , with heartfelt statements made by executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, series lead and producer Sonequa Martin-Green, who portrays Captain Michael Burnham, Paramount chief programming officer Tanya Giles, and David Stapf of CBS Studios all praising the success of Star Trek: Discovery .

Star Trek: Discovery launched on the CBS All-Access streaming service in 2017 and was originally a prequel series set before Star Trek: The Original Series. Discovery jumped 930 years into the future of Star Trek' s canonical timeline at the end of season 2. Discovery was not met with overwhelming love from hardcore Star Trek fandom since its inception, but it endured and found its creative footing. Discovery 's success became the cornerstone of Star Trek 's expansion into an entire universe of new series streaming on Paramount+, which includes Star Trek: Picard , the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy (which is now on Netflix), and Discovery 's direct spinoffs, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Section 31 , the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie on Paramount+, is also a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery.

The Star Trek TV franchise has existed for 57 years and consists of 12 shows (and counting). Here's how to watch them all in timeline order.

Why Star Trek: Discovery Is Ending With Season 5

A five-year run is an achievement in the streaming era.

The reasons for Star Trek: Discovery ending reportedly has to do more with the overall business of streaming and the landscape of the marketplace. A detailed analysis by TrekMovie examined the pressures Paramount Global is under to cut costs and make the Paramount+ streaming service profitable, which is an issue every streamer, including Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+, is dealing with. Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra announced that 2023 was their "peak year" in streaming investment, which means the company is trimming its bottom line. Star Trek: Discovery ending seems to be a result of the changing business of streaming.

Paramount is now in the midst of a sale with conglomerates like Sony and Skydance negotiating to take over the studio.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 was not intended to be the end of the series. Following the cancelation, Paramount+ allowed the cast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery to return to Toronto for 3 additional days of filming. Star Trek: Discovery 's series finale, "Life Itself", directed by Olatunde Osunsanme and written by showrunner Michelle Paradise, is an extended episode that concludes with a special coda to wrap up the series and Discovery 's major character arcs. Paradise promised fans Star Trek: Discovery would not end with a frustrating cliffhanger that would never be resolved.

Discovery Ends As A Star Trek Success Story

Star trek owes its renaissance to discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery has its share of loyal fans and detractors, but there is no arguing that there would be no Star Trek universe on Paramount+ without Michael Burnham's show leading the way. Discovery helped keep the nascent CBS All-Access streaming service afloat in its early years before its rebranding into Paramount+. The two live-action and two animated Star Trek shows that launched since 2020 were made possible by Discovery . Star Trek: Discovery was the franchise's first foray into serialized prestige television, and i t raised the bar for Star Trek series in terms of cinematic visuals and production values .

Discovery opened the door for LGBTQ+ representation in the other Star Trek series.

Further, Star Trek: Discovery broke important ground for diversity, inclusiveness, and LGBTQ+ representation . Sonequa Martin-Green is the first Black female lead of a Star Trek series, and Burnham subsequently became the first Black female Captain to lead a Star Trek series. Anthony Rapp's Paul Stamets and Wilson Cruz's Dr. Hugh Culber were the first openly gay couple in a loving marriage portrayed in Star Trek. Discovery season 3 added Blu del Barrio's Adira Tal and Ian Alexander's Gray as Star Trek 's first non-binary and transgender stars. Discovery opened the door for LGBTQ+ representation in the other Star Trek series, like Jesse James Keitel portraying the non-binary Captain Angel in Strange New Worlds .

What Happens To Star Trek After Discovery Ends?

Star trek will keep on going with tv series and movies.

Star Trek on Paramount+ had a historic 2022 where all five Star Trek series aired new episodes, resulting in a new episode of Star Trek nearly every Thursday throughout the year. Star Trek entered 2023 with much the same hoopla but Star Trek: Discovery season 5 both not premiering until 2024 and ending, along with Star Trek: Picard season 3 being its final season, casts a pall over the franchise, although Picard season 3 and Strange New Worlds season 3 were huge successes with critics and audiences .

Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 is available on Netflix and season 2 is awaiting its premiere date, with the future of the all-ages animated series dependent on its streaming performance.

Star Trek: Lower Decks ending with season 5 later in 2024 accompanied the news of Strange New Worlds ' season 4 renewal. When Discovery and Lower Decks are over, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which is targeting a 2026 release, will join Strange New Worlds as the two remaining Star Trek series on Paramount+. However, after spinning off 5 new series and a made-for-streaming movie, Star Trek: Section 31 , Star Trek: Discovery' s run can be considered a success by any measure , and its positive impact on Star Trek will continue to be felt into the future.

Will Star Trek: Discovery Return For Season 6 Or Movies?

There are always possibilities..

Star Trek: Discovery planted numerous seeds for the Star Trek on Paramount+ franchise to continue to grow, but there is no indication that Discovery itself will continue with a season 6 after its season 5/series finale . Discovery 's 32nd-century timeline will be continued by Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , with the potential for some Discovery characters to appear in the new series. A Star Trek: Discovery streaming movie on Paramount+ might be possible (depending on how Star Trek: Section 31 performs) but not any time in the near future with the general uncertainty surrounding Paramount's sale.

Star Trek 's theatrical side is ramping up after nearly a decade since Star Trek Beyond premiered in theaters in 2016. Paramount Pictures announced an Untitled Star Trek Origin movie directed by Toby Haynes will start production later in 2024 for a 2025 or 2026 release. X-Men producer Simon Kinberg is reportedly negotiating to oversee the Star Trek theatrical franchise the way Alex Kurtzman runs Star Trek on Paramount+. And the ever-rumored Star Trek 4 produced by J.J. Abrams hopes to one day reunite the USS Enterprise cast led by Chris Pine. Star Trek: Discovery was a new beginning for Star Trek on television, and Captain Michael Burnham's series undoubtedly leaves Star Trek better than it found it.

Star Trek: Discovery is streaming on Paramount+

Review: In ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die,’ the action party rolls on, vigorously and untroubled

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

The first “Bad Boys” came out in 1995, which means we’re officially entering aging-action-star territory with this franchise. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” a fourth installment, is directed by the up-and-coming action filmmaking team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, known as Adil & Bilall, who took over directing duties from Michael Bay with 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life.”

There seem to be only two options for an action star — or franchise — that’s getting up in years. You can either take the Tom Cruise route, returning to a text that was originally all flash and sensation, and infusing it with a sense of soulful poignancy as the character (and actor) reckons with what he’s sacrificed in his pursuit of pure adrenaline (e.g. “Top Gun: Maverick” ). The other option is to join the crude, cynical supergroup modeled by the “Expendables” series, in which beloved stars josh and jostle for a cash grab.

But for the “Bad Boys” films, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence and producer Jerry Bruckheimer aren’t looking to alter much about what made the franchise successful in the first place. In fact, Smith, who has faced significant public upheaval in the past few years, is strangely ageless and unaffected in his performance as Miami detective Mike Lowery, easily slipping back into Mike-mode here. What’s weird is that it feels so normal to watch him in this role.

Adil & Bilall take the basic scaffolding and structure of the previous films — the Miami setting, the character archetypes that Smith and Lawrence have established, Bay’s distinctive visual language — and freestyle on top of it. The directors dutifully pay homage to Bay’s signature style, aping his constantly moving camera, low Dutch angles and the “Bad Boys shot,” in which the camera circles around Smith and Lawrence as they stand up into frame, staring into the distance. They treat the “Bad Boys” template like a coloring book, scribbling in with their own wild artistic experimentation over the lines.

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is a declaration of action independence, using new technology like drones and infusing the film with the grammar of video games. Bay himself utilized drones with a certain gonzo artfulness in his 2022 film “Ambulance,” but Adil & Bilall use their drones to follow people and movement in space and explore the geography of interiors.

They also use wild, rapidly-swapping first-person-shooter-style POV shots in the shootouts, which are legible to the average gamer even if they don’t always make cinematic sense. They can easily get away with layering in this kind of stylistic experimentation because the beats of “Bad Boys” are so familiar — and, as deployed in “Ride or Die,” essentially perfunctory.

Writers Chris Bremner and Will Beall offer a story that is wide but shallow. There’s certainly a lot of plot and even more characters, even if we don’t get to know them all that well. This convoluted yarn concerns the bad boys’ deceased Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who has been posthumously framed for corruption, accused of sharing intel with drug cartels. Cop partners Marcus (Lawrence) and Mike (Smith) seek to clear his name, but find themselves at odds with Howard’s U.S. Marshal daughter Judy (Rhea Seehorn), bent on vengeance, and their colleague Rita (Paola Nuñez), who has brought the charges via her attorney-mayoral candidate fiancé Lockwood (Ioan Gruffud). Their only chance at fingering the real bad guy is Mike’s drug-dealer son Armando (Jacob Scipio), who has been imprisoned for the bloody chaos he wrought in “For Life.”

The 27 best movie theaters in Los Angeles

We’ve mapped out 27 of the best movie theaters in L.A., from the TCL Chinese and the New Beverly to the Alamo Drafthouse and which AMC reigns in Burbank.

Nov. 22, 2023

Meanwhile, our guys are grappling with their own mortality and PTSD. After a near-death experience at Mike’s wedding, Marcus finds himself spiritually renewed, feeling invincible, euphoric and babbling about his past lives. Mike, on the other hand, is gripped with anxiety as a newlywed and as a “new” father.

But this simply provides the playground upon which the filmmakers can experiment and Lawrence can clown to his heart’s content. His performance is garish but there’s something about him that just wears you down over the course of two hours — one must simply submit to his comedic ministrations. The first half of the film is overly concerned with Marcus’ sugar addiction and during one shootout in an interactive art gallery, he has a single sip of fruit punch and reacts as if he’s freebased crystal meth. That theme is quickly dropped for other equally cartoonish bits, such as a run-in with a redneck militia, a callback to their infiltration of the Klan in the second movie and a side quest to a strip club, where they tangle with Tiffany Haddish.

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” never quite finds its own tone, but then again, the franchise has always walked the strange line of goofy and hard, teetering between Lawrence and Smith, and despite the co-directors’ cinematic experimentation and a couple of impressively nasty fight scenes (courtesy of the younger actors), this installment favors the goofy. It’s a thin tapestry of lore with some interesting creative embellishments, but without any real interest in character, it feels flimsy and disposable. You could do worse, but you could certainly do better.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Bad Boys: Ride or Die'

Rating: R, for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes Playing: In wide release Friday, June 7

More to Read

Glen Powell initially turned down his ‘Top Gun’ role — so Tom Cruise rewrote it for him

May 28, 2024

Review: In ‘Gasoline Rainbow,’ carefree kids hit the road during a fleeting moment when they can

May 17, 2024

Jonathan Bailey doesn’t like to bare it all. But vulnerability fueled his best performance yet

May 14, 2024

Entertainment & Arts

‘Guess who’s back!’ Martin Lawrence announces his first comedy tour in eight years

May 8, 2024

Review: Generic from its title onward, ‘Boy Kills World’ does little to differentiate its gore

April 25, 2024

An addictively readable history of the Hollywood Renaissance, with one glaring omission

April 8, 2024

Review: A hitman’s memory fades in ‘Knox Goes Away,’ a thriller that’s too placid from the start

March 15, 2024

Review: Made by a solo Coen brother, ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ is trashy fun and exceedingly disposable

Feb. 21, 2024

‘Barbenheimer’ gave us a fun summer ... until you stop to think what they’re really about

Feb. 13, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

World & Nation

District attorney in Alec Baldwin’s case wins New Mexico Democratic primary

June 4, 2024

‘Hairspray’ actor Nikki Blonsky reveals that she married Hailey Jo Jenson last year

Company Town

Paramount Global unveils business plan and job cuts as sale looms

Zachary Quinto banned from Toronto bistro for behaving ‘like an entitled child’

June 3, 2024