I’ll get back to my summary of the second half of the second season of Strange New Worlds in a bit. But for now, Subspace Rhapsody is now my favorite episode of Star Trek of all time and I need to get this out!
We knew there was a musical episode coming, and I wondered how well that would fare with Star Trek fans, who can be very unforgiving. But I found the episode to be completely chaming. The Enterprise encounters a naturally-occurring subspace fold, and Spock thinks that it can be used to increase the speed of their communications across the sector by a factor of three. Subspace radio is Star Trek’s magical way of allowing faster-than-light communication in a universe where they traverse dozens of light years in a matter of days. So, this would be a big deal. Unfortunately, the fold doesn’t appear to want to transmit their signals. When chief engineer Pelia suggests music to take advantage of the nature of harmonies, they give it a try. Uhura sends “the great American songbook” through the phenomenon, and the results are…spectacular.
Spock inexplicably bursts into song (Status Report) while offering a routine report on the effects of the phenomenon. Then music is heard throughout the ship, and each member of the crew gets a verse to sing, just like in a Broadway musical, touching upon each character. There is some real genius going on in this scene, as helm officer Ortegas and navigator Mitchell, even find their hand movements on their control panels to be synchronized. That clues us in that it’s not just singing we’re in for!
Then we are treated to an a capella arrangement of the Strange New Worlds theme. Some viewers may not even have noticed.
As the crew searches for answers, their fundamental truths are revealed and their individual storylines are wrapped up. And once more, James T. Kirk is inexplicably on the ship. The Farragut must follow the Enterprise like a lost puppy! Una notices that La’an “has an energy” about her as they prepare to beam him in. La’an dodges the remark, for the moment. As Kirk is receiving a seminar from Una on how to be an effective first officer, they have a slight disagreement on command style, which leads to a duet in Gilbert and Sullivan style, called Connect to Your Truth. We know that Una loves Gilbert & Sullivan from references in episode two, and the Short Treks episode, Q & A. The pair even dance, while La’an looks from around a corner, observing that they are revealing more about themselves than they perhaps intend to.
When La’an returns to her cabin to address her feelings, she belts out How Would That Feel, where she explores her feelings for Kirk, and how those feelings have changed how she sees herself. She’s even questioning her entire way of behaving and wants to experiment with sharing her feelings. This is a real moment of character growth for La’an, but it’s tempered when she realizes that she could inadvertently reveal things that she is not allowed to because of the events of episode three. She is not allowed to reveal what happened in the alternate timeline and understands that it could pose a security threat. So, the change in her paradigm is delayed.
The next number, a duet between Captain Pike and his sometime paramour Captain Batel (who finally gets a first name, Marie) is played for laughs as they try to have a Private Conversation, only to have their personal business and raw emotions laid out in front of their entire crews–until La’an cuts off communication to prevent any further emotional and professional damage. When Spock reveals that the damage is spreading through the entire subspace network, Pike is then convinced that they need to stop the phenomenon from doing more harm, even extending into the Klingon Empire. “No one wants to hear a singing Klingon,” Una says. I heartily disagreed!
When La’an doesn’t want her feelings toward Kirk revealed, Una sings to her about how keeping things secret really doesn’t work for her anymore, in Keeping Secrets. Things start to get a little more serious as a group of Klingon ships is about to arrive and destroy the subspace fold, which Spock has found to be a fatal mistake. It would destroy the Federation and half the Klingon Empire. To come up with a tactical plan, La’an recruits Kirk to help her, and somehow they have an emotional moment without a song. Kirk has sensed La’an’s attraction, but he’s in a relationship right now, and his partner Carol is pregnant. This relationship of course was revealed in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the pregnancy will result in the birth of Kirk’s son, David. But knowing how that relationship will end does raise the question of whether Kirk will eventually come back to La’an. This episode has layers on top of layers, because in season one, episode 10, La’an is serving as Kirk’s first officer on the Farragut in the future timeline, and appears as happy and free as she wishes she could be.
As Spock and Uhura race to find a way to shut down the effects of the fold, they discover that the phenomenon is following the rules of the American musical, and that the music is occurring when strong emotions are too much to express simply in spoken words. As an example, Chapel is celebrating with friends in the Port Galley, because she has been accepted to the fellowship she applied for back in episode five’s Charades. As soon as they burst into song (I’m Ready), Uhura starts taking readings before chiming in, while Spock stands helplessly by and watches his relationship with Christine dissolve before his very ears. This one of the most ambitious numbers in the show, with a whole room of dancers, very much in the style of Chicago. But in the end, Chapel just cuts Spock’s heart out:
“It’s freedom and I like it
My spark has been ignited
If I need to leave you
I won’t fight it
I’m ready.”
As Uhura and Spock struggle to find a pattern that will allow them to escape the phenomenon, Spock finds himself emotionally compromised, and his pain is released in a reprise of I’m Ready. This is my favorite song in the whole episode, so I’m going to quote the entire thing here:
This news really changes everything
I can’t believe how wrong I’ve been
Convinced myself we shared the same feelings
I won’t make that mistake again
She’s happy and carefree
The opposite of me
I can do the calculus
For her I set aside
My need to analyze
Now I’m racked and
Searching for why
I’m the ex
I’ve got no one but myself to blame
I’ve betrayed my core philosophy
Unbending reason must be my true north
Lеst I drown in this sea of pain
I’m so dysfunctional
Weak and emotional
Feelings I just can’t contain
Escaping this misery
Or breaking free
Not a possibility
I’ll solve for Y in my computation
But miss vital information
The variable so devastating
I’m the X
I’m the X
I’m the X
This is just so clever, the interchangeable use of ex and X, why and Y, I love the whole thing. This sets Spock down the path we know he’s destined to walk. “Unbending reason must be my true north” defines the Spock we know from the Original Series, and who we got to see in A Quality of Mercy‘s alternate timeline, again weaving the idea of fate in and out of this whole prequel series.
This breakup also adds a new dimension to the Spock/Chapel relationship in the Original Series. Instead of a simple unrequited love on Chapel’s part, this new dynamic provides a different take. Spock was in love with her and she broke his heart. He retreated into logic and she realizes that she made a mistake and is trying to get him back, and he rebuffs her, harshly for the most part, especially when he goes into Pon Farr in Amok Time. It’s just really well done.
Spock is overwhelmed and leaves Uhura to find a pattern on her own, as she often finds herself, and in the course of doing so, discovers her true purpose in Keep Us Connected. She finds that enough voices singing could produce a spike of 344 giga electron volts (bound to be a popular trivia answer) and destroy the fold. She persuades Pike that they need a “grand finale” to survive.
Uhura leads the entire ship into their final song, We Are One, which is great, but the true highlight is when Pike orders Uhura to hail the approaching Klingons, who then break out into a boy band song. I’m not kidding, I belly laughed. It was perfect. Even the starships were choreographed by the end of the number and the subspace fold was gone. The crew celebrates, all smiles, except for Spock, who gives Chapel a serious look as he turns away from her, and you can see on her face that she knows that she has hurt him badly. She tries to make the best of it with her other crewmates, though.
Spock makes amends for involving the Klingons, calling back to the first episode of the season, when he showed a willingness to drink blood wine, again weaving plotlines gracefully throughout the show.
Batel concludes that she and Pike will settle on their desired vacation spot after she comes back from a priority-one mission she just received from Starfleet, and you just have a feeling that that’s not going to go well. Still, such a good show. Such strong character development, and they even explored something brand-new!
