The third season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought together numerous threads to a wild conclusion! Returning to a major threat introduced earlier in the season, “New Life and New Civilizations” had a heartbreaking end for one major character and the groundwork for the show’s future.
Pike’s personal log related how Batel was cleared to start her job as head of Starfleet JAG, exhausted on her first day. She was hoping for a quiet time with Pike, only to find a dinner party in progress. The crew bantered a bit on everything from Scotty showing up in full Scottish kilt and regalia to Pelia talking of her time with a “time-travelling Doctor.”
Spock noted Korby was on a trip hunting a lead on the phrase Batel had said when fighting Gamble, which she still couldn’t explain. On Skygowan, a world notable for its huge, floating pyramids, Roger talked in a log of winning the trust of a high cleric to see more about their supposed immortality. Scotty was checking the transporters to find strange patterns left behind. The logs showed they were pieces of a person that was rebuilt into a new form…of Gamble, who Korby found himself face to face with, now clad in complex armor and talking of living forever.
The dark evil returns
Korby’s emergency transponder had been sent off as the crew realized the Vezda inside Gamble’s body had used the transporters to survive. Pike put a team together.
Batel was working out and admitting to Pike that she felt she had to be there to stop the Vezda for reasons she couldn’t explain. The team beamed onto the planet to note that the gateways there were just like those on Vadia Nine. Una and M’Benga posed as a drunken couple to distract some clerics so La’an could nerve pinch them, with Batel jealous at how well she did it. They then used the gateways.
Spock theorized that the Vezda had somehow exploited cosmic “Ley lines” to reach Skygowan and that perhaps this was used by some ancient civilizations to travel the classic. It also meant that Gamble could use those same pathways to free its brethren and unleash a wave of Vezda across the universe.
The team met Korby, who shared that Gamble had convinced the people of the planet that he was a god and ready to follow him. Gamble was leading a crowd in chanting prayers before several of them stabbed themselves in the eye.
Kirk reported that the Farragut was repaired and ready to help. On the planet, the away team theorized they could use one of the orbs to trap the Vezda. Korby showed the nearby markings that included writing in Swahili, with M’Benga realizing somehow it was about him defending himself when attacked on a colony. That had M’Benga convinced he was destined to be there.
The gateway scanned Joseph, opening a door for him. Una ordered him to stay, only for Gamble to attack the group with M’Benga, and Gamble thrust in the doorway. Finding a couple of corpses there, M’Benga realized Gamble wanted the Enterprise to come so he could use M’Benga to enter the doorway and free the Vezda.
Gamble blasted the “warden” statue to free himself. On the Enterprise, Batel suddenly screamed, collapsed, and then stood up with her eyes glowing with cosmic energy.
Batel's destiny awakens
In sickbay, Batel felt fine as her eyes faded back to normal. Chapel was stunned to realize that somehow Batel had become the Beholder statue. On the planet, M’Benga tricked Gamble into thinking he was going to kill himself to trap him through another doorway. Batel talked of how every species had stories of an ancient evil, and being hybridized opened up the genetic memory of every race that knew how to fight the Vezda.
This meant Batel might be the new “warden” to prevent the Vezda from escaping. Pike didn’t want to accept it, but Batel felt this was the only thing that fit her now. She said it was her destiny, adding, “You of all people should understand that.”
On the planet, Pike and Batel figured out they needed a major power source to open the gateway. As in the same level of power as Earth’s sun. The closest match was to have the Enterprise and Farragut fire their phasers at exactly the same moment at the same target, working in perfect tandem. The only way to do that was a mind meld between Kirk and Spock, which Kirk at first balked at, but was convinced by Spock, who pointed out how Kirk was known for going rogue, which Kirk respected. The mind meld proceeded with Spock for the first time calling Kirk by his first name.
While the mind meld was freaky to the crews, it was enough to get the job done, lighting up the gateways with phaser power to open them. Pike and Batel entered the gateway just in time to find M’Benga as the Vezda broke out.
A sad look at what could have been
Gamble recognized Batel as its jailor and wanted payback. It attacked the statue, which hurt Batel. Gamble attacked Pike with Batel’s hands glowing. She suddenly found herself in a cabin with Pike, celebrating their marriage. It then jumped to the pair seeing their daughter playing with a dog, with Pike solemn as he was about to face his destined end. Batel told him she was ready to face it with him, as Pike was worried about what it would do to their family.
Another time jump had Batel surprised to find a healthy Pike coming home, just as confused as to why he had avoided his accident. Batel suggested that the battle with the Vezda had opened up a hole in time and space, giving Batel the power to stop the Vezda and alter Pike’s history.
An older Pike and Batel welcomed their grown daughter with Eli April, son of Pike’s former first officer, who announced their engagement. Pike was confused, hearing some knocking before another time jump showed photos of their family before Pike was at Batel’s deathbed.
She told him, “Look to the stars and I’ll be there.” She then revealed that this entire long life together was all a mental illusion, her way of saying goodbye by showing Pike the wonderful life they could have had together.
Back in the present, Gamble blew apart the statue to free the Vezda, who flew about the temple as it fell away to reveal the space pathways. Batel unleashed a blast of light that sucked the creatures back into their prison. She sucked the last Vezda away before transforming into the new statue to be its eternal guardian.
Korby told Christine he couldn’t stay as he felt he had to explore the new pathways the Vezda had revealed, with her noting it would never be easy between them. Kirk was beating Spock at chess as their new bond gave them insight and the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Spock went off with La’an while Kirk and Sam shared an overdue drink.
Una saw to a despondent Pike, who suddenly noticed the smock from his dream had somehow appeared in his quarters as a goodbye gift from Marie. Pike’s log talked of how fleeting connections could be as the crew was shown moving on, stating that “No one we love is truly gone.”
The final scene had Pike back on the bridge as Spock related that the pathways had revealed scores of newly discovered planets that could take years to explore. Seeing a shooting star fly by, Pike stated, “It’s a new future. It’s whatever adventure we want it to be.” He then ordered the ship to fly as fast as Ortegas could take it to wrap up the third season’s voyages.
It was a strong finale that was bittersweet for Pike to lose his love, no matter how she was needed, while also paving the way for more adventures, just the way Star Trek fans would want to close out the season.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is streaming on Paramount+.