Terminator 2 star Joe Morton makes his Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debut in season 4's "Orders of Magnitude." His character comes pre-steeped in years of lore, implying that this isn't the first time Admiral Simon Reeger has appeared in the 60 years of Star Trek movies and TV shows. After all, Strange New Worlds lives and breathes by fleshing out the lives of figures who have already featured in Star Trek stories, especially in The Original Series. So, Admiral Reeger would be no different in this respect.
All that being said, Reeger is a new character who has never been shown or even mentioned before "Orders of Magnitude." He may feel familiar to those who have followed Star Trek through the decades, but there's a very good reason for that. There have been characters similar to him before. Regardless, Reeger now retroactively holds a fascinating and pivotal place in Star Trek canon. In a way, he also weaves himself into the events of The Original Series, or at least the life of one of its most iconic characters.
FULL SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 8, "Orders of Magnitude."
Admiral Reeger shares a history with 2 Star Trek: The Original Series characters
"Orders of Magnitude" introduces Reeger as a hero of the Klingon War, a conflict that's only shown via flashbacks. He was the Captain of the USS Constitution, with George Kirk, father of Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk, serving as his First Officer. The stories about Reeger taking on three Klingon vessels while evacuating a medical facility have become the stuff of Starfleet legend. As such, characters like La'An (Christina Chong) and Ortegas (Melissa Navia) hold him in very high esteem.
As well as George Kirk, who has only ever been shown on-screen in 2009's Star Trek reboot movie, which was set in another timeline and had the character played by Chris Hemsworth, Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) is also revealed to have served under Reeger on the Constitution. He was even there during the famous against-the-odds victory over the Klingons. So, Reeger is now deeply ingrained in the lives of both M'Benga and Kirk. All after just one episode.
Why Reeger belongs in Star Trek's 'Badmiral' category
As it turns out, Reeger is not what he seems. Although he has had a long career in Starfleet, and probably done a lot of good in that time, he's defined by a success that is not actually his own. During the much-talked-about fight with the Klingons, he was actually incapacitated due to a head injury. So, George Kirk took over as Acting Captain and was actually the one to pull off what everyone attributes to Morton's character.
In isolation, this doesn't make Reeger a bad guy. In fact, George even let everyone not aboard the Constitution believe it was Reeger in command at the time, as it was helping with Federation morale by holding Morton's character up as a hero. Also aware of this benefit of his false praise, Reeger didn't correct anyone and never has. I'd say he also probably enjoyed it, too. For a time. However, his decision to then start tanking George's career shows how petty he truly is.
The Kirk family patriarch started being reassigned every time he requested family leave, and it was Reeger's doing. This scuppered George's chances of ever being promoted to Captain. These aren't the actions of an Admiral who's acting as he should. As such, he joins the ranks of the other problematic Admirals who have permeated the Star Trek franchise for decades.
Why Admiral Reeger lost control on the bridge of the Enterprise
Reeger commandeers the Enterprise to track a ship that has already demonstrated its terrifyingly destructive capabilities, and with Captain Pike (Anson Mount) on an away mission, Reeger gets to sit in the Big Chair. Reeger's mission is legit and logical, so there's no concern there. Where things start getting sticky is the fact that Reeger is secretly trying to avenge his late family, who were killed by the ship they're tracking. As such, he lacks any objectivity about what constitutes acceptable measures, triggering the seldom-used General Order 24 to kill everyone on the planet where the ship has landed.
With James T. Kirk aboard and filling in as Reeger's Acting First Officer, Morton's character is initially reluctant to have the son of his former First Officer in such a senior position. His reluctance turns out to be justified when Kirk leads a mutiny to prevent Reeger's extreme measures from being carried out. This eventually boils over into Reeger punching Kirk in the face several times on the bridge of the Federation's flagship. Although this unacceptable behavior could be put down to his frustration at revenge being kept from him, it's more complicated than that.
As Reeger explains upon Pike's return, he's not the sort of person to lose control as he did. I actually believe him, as he was very level-headed up to that point. When Kirk admits to spiking Reeger's coffee to make the Admiral act that way and trigger his being relieved of command, it all made a lot of sense. That being said, I find it hard to believe that Reeger wouldn't have acted somewhat similarly if he hadn't been drugged. If not for his own substantial baggage, maybe he'd not have been quite so erratic, and the crew wouldn't have doubted his true motivations.
In other words, Reeger's actions on the bridge near the end of "Orders of Magnitude" were a potent mix of grief, a lust for revenge, anger at being disobeyed, and the drug taking hold and making him ultra-paranoid and unstable. He's lucky he had a valid mission to try and hide behind, or he'd have found what he did difficult to come back from.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming now on Paramount+.
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