Star Trek: Strange New Worlds review, Episode 204: “Among The Lotus Eaters”

I’m actually kinda relieved. I think I was starting to come off as a golden retriever puppy who was just excited about anything Strange New Worlds does. After three episodes with almost no negative criticisms, we finally get an episode that’s a little less than perfect.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been focused this season on character development. That continues in “Among the Louts Eaters,” but it’s not as successful. I’ve said it before, but now that we’re so used to serialized TV, it seems almost surreal that Strange New Worlds is telling a whole story with a beginning, middle and end all in one hour. Perhaps if these character arcs had been developed over the course of multiple episodes, it would have worked, but here they don’t really go anywhere.

I think this was meant to be Erica Ortegas’ episode. We start with her recording a log about how excited she is about going on an away mission, only to be told by Spock that she’s needed on The Enterprise. Later, when the crew have all lost their memories but can remember their emotions, she and Spock are trying to remember who they are, but all she can remember is that she’s angry at him. And that’s it. That’s the big reveal about her inner life.

I mean, it ain’t nothing. We learn that she’s passionate about her job and perhaps identifies a little too closely with it. She needs to learn to be a team player who’s happy to go where she’s needed. That’s fine, but if you compare it to the profound infodump we got about La’an Noonien-Singh last week, and about Una Chin-Riley the week before, Ortegas feels short-changed.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds explore the relationship between Captains Pike and Batel

More successful is the arc about the relationship between Pike and Captain Batel. As The Mary Sue pointed out, theirs is a relationship that’s pretty unique in pop culture. Real men, many have come to believe, wouldn’t have a girlfriend with an equal or higher rank than them. Not only is Batel also a Captain, but she has a higher security clearance than Pike does, but she’s also angling for a promotion to commodore. And we’ve never seen any tension over this!

Their relationship is unique in another way: it’s casual. Casual sexual relationships are something that normal healthy people do, but on TV they’re the preserve of amoral cads and emotionally arrested people who won’t admit that they’re in love. But when we first met Batel back in season 1, it was made clear that the casualness of their relationship is not going to be a source of conflict.

And all that makes their emotional arc in “Among the Lotus Eaters” feel real. At the beginning of the episode, Batel is passed over for a promotion, which she believes is punishment for losing the case against Una Chin-Riley. Because Pike feels responsible for that conflict, he breaks up with her, so as to not hold back her career. But as I mentioned, the plot involves the crew all losing their memories but remembering their emotions. All he knows about a gift that she gave him is that it represents a close connection, which is when he realizes that she’s important to him.

On the one hand, it’s nice to see their relationship affirmed in this way, and it feels genuine. Found family and the emotional attachments we form to friends and colleagues are important concepts for Star Trek, and it’s good to see a friends-with-benefits relationship included in that. On the other hand, apart from the first episode and this one, we haven’t seen much of their relationship, so the affirmation doesn’t mean much. It’s well executed, but it lacks impact.

Star Trek: The Original Series references

This episode’s plot is classic Star Trek and recalls a few famous Original Series episodes. Satellite imagery shows that a supposedly primitive alien race on Rigel VII have a garden in the shape of a Starfleet insignia, indicating there’s cultural contamination from a previous mission to the planet led by Pike. That mission was a disaster in which three crew members died. This is an easter egg, as it was mentioned in the original series. It was why Pike was so morose in that infamous unaired pilot.

Pike, La’an and Dr. M’Benga are assigned to an away team because of their fighting abilities. I hope we eventually find out why the mild-mannered chief medical officer is a skilled fighter.) In the season premiere, when he and Nurse Chapel take stimulants so they can fight off a bunch of Klingons, she asked him mysteriously, “Are you sure you want to do this again?” which suggests an interesting story. It’s quite a tease.

When they arrive on the planet, they start losing their memories. But not before they learn that one of the crew members from the previous mission who was presumed dead is very much alive. To survive, he traded his Starfleet technology with the locals and anointed himself king. There’s something in the atmosphere that makes everyone lose their memories every night when they sleep, but his castle is made from an ore that protects whoever’s inside from memory loss.

Pike, La’an and M’Benga are sent out to the quarry to be slaves. They’re helped by a local who’s pretty happy about the whole memory loss thing; he considers it a blessing, as they don’t have to remember painful stuff. La’an is injured in an escape attempt. Pike and M’Benga only have a feeling that they’re her friends and that they should help her, but the friendly local reckons it would be better for everyone if they didn’t bother. That’s the advantage of forgetting; they won’t remember the pain of losing a friend. But on a planet where there’s no long-term memory, feelings are all anyone has, so since they feel so strongly that they should help her, he agrees to help them. It’s a very Star Trek moment as it forces us to consider how different alien cultures would have different perspectives.

The helpful local believes all their memories are stored in a casket in the castle, so Pike fights his way in. The casket turns out to be a myth, but simply being in the castle causes his memories to come back. The end.

Verdict

The other problem with this episode is the plot holes. I’m of the opinion that a few plot holes here and there are fine, but when they pile up, it starts to feel like the whole thing wasn’t very well thought out. For instance, there are no consistent rules about what people do and do not forget. Nurse Chapel explains that while she’d remember the basics of treating wounds, she’d forget that treating wounds was her job. Except Dr. M’Benga does seem to forget the basics of treating wounds. Meanwhile, Spock takes the wise precaution of handing out PADDS with everyone’s personnel files on them, so they’ll know who they are, except he seemingly forgets how to read his. And Ortegas saves the day when the computer tells her that she’s the pilot and that it’s her job to fly the ship, but why was she the only crew member who thought to ask the computer what was going on?

Not to mention the questions about how a planet of people with no long-term memory just happened to have a castle that protected anyone inside it from memory loss. Who built the castle? Did they know about the ore? And how does anyone take on large-scale projects with persistent memory loss?

Still, Ortegas’ novel strategy of talking to the disembodied voice that answers all their questions leads to the triumphant moment where she marches to the bridge repeating the mantra of “I’m Erica Ortegas, and I fly the ship.” Her sense of pride is palpable. What’s great about Melissa Navia’s performance is that she always seems like she’s having fun with it. Even though it’s not a big revealing moment — we already know that she’s passionate and talented and a little cocky — it’s fun to see her play it out.

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