One of the best things about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that the show has a different adventure every week but still does an excellent job of making sure that each and every installment allows the audience to get to know the crew of the Enterprise. It seems as if each episode of the newest Star Trek show intends to dive into the past of a different crew member each week. That doesn't mean that the entire focus is on that crew member; most of the time, the series is also so good because it handles this so subtly. It's usually not until the end of the episode that the watcher realizes that the main goal was to fill in the backstory gaps.
Such is the case in Episode 6 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as the history of Captain Christopher Pike. While Pike happens to be the character fans of Star Trek have seen on screen the most, thanks to first being in Star Trek: Discovery, there's still plenty of history to fill in for the character. This episode did that deftly, making him come off as just a little more human. That might have been something that needed to be done after five episodes that made him a bit larger than life. He looked like someone who was a bit above it all, now that he's come to terms with his future.
"Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" is the first Christopher Pike-focused episode of the new series and not only give the audience a better look at what a younger Pike might have been like but also draws the very clear line of distinction as to why some very advanced planets wouldn't be allowed into the Federation. By illustrating that line, the show also tells the tale of the Enterprise as people who are indeed the best among humanity (and other races).
In this episode of Strange New Worlds, the Enterprise crew embark on a mission to the Majalan system, an area on the edge of Federation space that Pike once visited a decade prior during a rescue attempt of a woman that has since risen to a high station in her culture's leadership. It turns out that another rescue mission brings Pike face to face with this woman again. The Enterprise crew also finds themselves tasked with protecting a young child from a kidnapping plot. It's soon established that the child is quite crucial to the Majalan way of life.
The child is known to Majalans as The First Servant and Pike's former love interest; Alora is in charge of retrieving The First Servant and getting him safe and sound back to the planet in time for a ceremony known as The Ascension. Because the Majalans have previously rejected invitation into the Federation, the planet's culture is unknown even to Pike, and a good part of this installment of Strange New Worlds is spent making it quite clear that there is a particular reason for that.
The show does an excellent job of bringing the audience along as the crew members start to wonder just what's up with the ruling class members spending time on board their ship. It doesn't take long for the mystery of the Majalans to start to unravel a little bit, even as more questions arise. This is underlined when it turns out the crew's new Majalan friends are quite advanced scientifically, to the point where they can wipe out a disease that the Federation has still not been able to cure. Unfortunately, those in possession of the cure refuse to share it as the Majalan's secrecy is again reinforced.
Captains of the Enterprise have one very prominent Achilles heel, which tends to be pretty and manipulative alien women. If there is a weakness in this particular episode, it is when Pike and Alora are together, mainly because of how bright and cagey Pike is earlier in the season. Despite obvious questions surrounding The First Servant, Pike finds that the spark that was struck up between him and Alora is still there a decade later. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has watched Star Trek from the original series, on.
The romance between Pike and Alora also introduces one of the laugh-out-loud goofiest moments of the entire Strange New Worlds series. After a spy, who is among those trying to steal The First Servant, is exposed, he goes on the run. Despite being pursued by the royal guard, this spy bests every combatant, making all those he takes on look quite incompetent. That is until Pike can tackle him, further proving his worth to Alora. Not long after, the happy couple retired to her bedroom, showing each other how much they've wanted to hook up for quite a while.
Other things made this episode of Strange New Worlds less than perfect. There were those attempting to kidnap The First Servant who could have avoided quite a bit of work if they had simply explained what was happening. Secrecy was the name of the game when it came to the Majalans, but it sure seemed as if there was a time or two when the biggest secret of them all would have come out. Certainly, the argument could be made that those opposing Alora might not have trusted Pike because he was so close to her.
It's even possible that they weren't clear that the Federation would even step in. Alora does an excellent job of making it clear that the organization that Pike works for is not without its own moral quandaries. Still, the episode of Strange New World's big payoff seems like it could have been avoided altogether if someone had opened their mouth about an hour earlier. This is a problem that shows all over television and streaming regularly have to deal with. It comes because the writers don't want to just tell the audience what the big mystery is. However, it also tends to create unbelievable issues with the plot.
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