This episode showcases the other half of the showrunning team for Season 1 of Strange New Worlds. We’ve got Henry Alonso Myers & Sarah Tarkoff’s “Children of the Comet,” directed by Maja Vrvilo. Vrvilo is probably best known for some work on Gotham, Hawaii Five-0, and more importantly for Star Trek. Specifically, one installment of Short Treks and two of each Picard and Discovery.

Tarkoff is likely best known for Arrow, both as a producer and writer, while Myers is part of some great 2000s TV in Charmed and Ugly Betty both as a producer and writer. Myers most recently was involved with The Magicians, which is probably the biggest mark against his record.

This is the episode to get us into the boots of cadet Nyota Uhura, before she became the Black sci-fi icon that Nichelle Nichols made her. I oddly love Celia Rose Gooding’s timid little creature that she’s playing off of here. Someone not entirely sure of themselves, not sure they know what they are doing, and unsure they should even be there. I find it weird that the actual Wikipedia for Uhura is only translated into 23 languages when the retcon that corrects the problematic nature of the original means she speaks 37 Earth languages. I’m only 27 off.

Though I do like the development of Uhura and pushing to showcase her more as a full character than an underdeveloped but highly important part of the crew, “Children of the Comet” isn’t my favorite episode. It is a lot slower paced than the first foray into space and being the first of the ship’s proper 5-year mission when fully crewed, we’re heavily focused on character and slowly showcasing the interactions between our crew. The dinner party scene with the aforementioned 37 languages is about as fast-paced as we get for a while before the third act.

Sam does what all Kirks do and gets himself into trouble, but to say his little heart attack on the comet is more than second-act peril would be too much. The comet itself is on a collision course with the primitive desert Deleb people, who are of course oblivious to the danger that hangs (quite literally) over their heads. In an effort to preserve the comet and not kill the people on Persephone III, Spock suggests strapping rockets to it and jettisoning it out of the way. The trouble is a shield that is protecting the comet makes any such attempts fruitless and any act of perceived aggression gets something similar.

This is a typical Star Trek story of trying to protect one group of people by putting your own people in danger. The twist this time is Cadet Uhura is on the away mission, the first of her career in Starfleet. She has to work out what all the squiggles on an egg on the comet mean and decipher them, like a puzzle of linguistics. Meanwhile, Captain Pike, Ortegas, and Una have to deal with the shepherds, religious zealots that are guiding the comet (M’hanit) to its final hatching place. The shepherds believe that destiny is defined, and that moving M’hanit out of the path of the Daleb’s homeworld would be like changing the height of waves.

Preordained zealots always get on my nerves with sci-fi. They are easy villains in stories like these and never feel fully expanded upon to give a hint of grey to their characters. It is a very black-and-white story choice that is deliberately chosen so as to focus more on other aspects and flesh those out. I like the choice to focus on Uhura and give her more character development than she has had over the previous 50+ years. However, I’d have also liked the Shepherds to be more than the wolf at the door of the straw pig’s house.

Jokes are something that is attempted, mostly at the expense of Spock and his very logical mindset. As I said last time and I’ll continue to say for the rest of time until he has something a little more, I don’t understand the fascination with him or the need to make jokes for us that are “isn’t Spock so logical?” It has an overall purpose though, to teach Spock that even in the most dire of situations, you can sometimes laugh at yourself or others to relieve the tension in the moment. Though it still feels odd while the rest of the episode is so straight-laced.

“Children of the Comet” isn’t a bad episode despite the fact that I’ve raised a couple of negatives about it. It is a solid difficult second episode focused on someone who desperately needed it in the overall ensemble. When not troubled by the neverending darkness that is the surface of the comet early on, it is also quite a beautiful episode from Vrvilo’s direction too. There is actually some color, depth, and overall pleasing-to-the-eye shots that make the episode stand out a little more. An episode that is memorable (not in a bad way) is always far from the worst episode.

Heavily character-focused, the slower pace throughout the middle of “Children of the Comet” does make part of it drag as we’re off on a bold new adventure with an old crew. Nonetheless, doing as I said sci-fi like Star Trek and Doctor Who should always do, Strange New Worlds‘ second episode is ultimately uplifting. It manages to be hopeful, if a little frustrating with its zealot-like antagonist being very prototypical of sci-fi stories. Being visually appealing, bringing depth to a beloved iconic character, and reinforcing the basis for which we’re here, the only true letdown is some attempts at humor that might not entirely fit.

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Strange New Worlds "Children of the Comet"

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Heavy character episode.
• A good retcon.
• Direction making pretty shots.

Cons

• Simple zealot antagonist.
• Attempts at humor.