Spock Amok, whose title riffs on The Original Series’ Amok Time, was written by Henry Alonso Myers, and Robin Wasserman. It first debuted on 2 June, 2022.

Following their encounter with the Gorn, the Enterprise has returned to Starbase One for some shore leave and minor repairs as well as a diplomatic negotiation with a possible new ally. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) recruits Pike (Anson Mount) and Spock (Ethan Peck) for the job, which interferes with the time Spock was going to spend with his fiance, T’Pring (Gia Sandu).

In an attempt to better understand their points of view, Spock and T’Pring undertake a soul-sharing ritual, and end up in that time honored tradition of the body swap. Hijinx ensue, but it’s always in service to the characters, which allows the humour in the situation to ring true.

We also see the birth of Chapel’s (Jess Bush) feelings for Spock, some great bits with Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), and the pairing of Una (Rebecca Romijn) and La’an (Christina Chong) as they attempt to have some fun by playing Enterprise Bingo.

Comedy can be a fine line to walk, especially with a property like Trek, and yet this episode makes it look easy. Everything comes from the characters, and it plays wonderfully.

It’s also great to see the series taking a risk like doing a comedy show so early in its run. But, like everything else the series has done so far, it succeeds with flying colors, and tells a fun character-building story as it does.

Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach is a great episode, but a heartbreaking one, and it is very much in line with the best of Trek. Written by Robin Wasserman and Bill Wolkoff, it debuted on 9 June, 2022.

For the first time in ten years, Pike is returning to a sector of space that he’s visited before, and he’s called into action immediately to rescue a craft that is under attack. Beaming aboard the craft’s crew, he discovers Alora (Lindy Booth), Elder Gamal (Husein Madhavji) and the child known as The First Servant (Ian Ho).

Pike promises to protect the First Servant, who seems to be the target of a series of attacks coming from an alien colony, but as La’an and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) – who is on security rotation – investigate they discover a truth about the alien colony. As the story develops, Pike, who takes up a romantic relationship with Alora, discovers a horrifying truth about the planet’s society, and the role the First Servant plays in it.

When all the facts come out, it’s an absolutely gutting revelation, and one that makes you think about suffering, particularly that of children, all over the globe. In a promising touch showing that we can grow and change, Gamal eventually begins to give information to M’Benga which may lead to a way to save his daughter, Rukiya (Sage Arrindell) who remains in the medical transporter buffer.

Thought-provoking and powerful, there’s a lot to examine and take away from this episode, and you can watch this one and the rest of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season one on DVD, Blu-Ray of gorgeous 4K, available now from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go.