Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 3 Review: Human Best Friend

Critic’s Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

3.5

Shore leave episodes are SO. MUCH. FUN.

Seeing the crew out of uniform and off the ship refreshes us as viewers as much as it refreshes them as characters.

And the resort planets of Star Trek conjure images of idyllic and relaxing paradises, complete with fertility totems and mind-reading desire-matons.

Besides, it’s about time, isn’t it? Una mentioned in the season premiere that they needed a break, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 3, “Human Best Friend,” gives it to them in spades.

(To put it in IRL context, we haven’t seen the crew of the Enterprise on shore leave since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 5, “Spock Amok.”)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Human Best Friend”

In the first real comedic narrative of the season, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds delivers a mystery wrapped in a hangover coated in workplace frustration and topped with a terrorist threat.

So, yeah. It’s a lot. And, honestly, the bomb part is so improbable it makes the rest of the hijinks positively plausible.

The best part is that vacationing on Seznar Grand gives most of the cast an opportunity to flip the script on their characters’ typical behavior.

Similar to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 8, “The Elysian Kingdom,” and the infamous musical episode Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 9, “Subspace Rhapsody,” we get glimpses at new facets of familiar players.

We get Party Girl Uhura, Karaoke Una, Chillaxed Pike, and Biker Gang(?) La’an. Maybe La’an is just leaning into her aggressive side a bit more?

Tripped-out Spock is probably my favorite, while Bingo-obsessed Chapel is just weird, and Bartender M’Benga is a real safety hazard.

Seznar Grand, with its cheerful host, Dendru, played by the unmistakable Dave Foley, promises a hedonistic escape from stress, responsibilities, and technology.

A planet where the atmosphere naturally intoxicates its visitors seems like a reckless sort of holiday destination, but it does explain the plethora of fine- and micro-print in the booking contract.

Dude, Where’s Our Shuttle?

The adventure begins with a weirdly sober Ortegas with no memory of the preceding night trying to deliver a note to Pike with an inebriated Scotty making things complicated.

The note informs Pike that the peace negotiations that were scheduled to start in two weeks have been moved up to within two hours aboard the Enterprise.

So Ortegas and Scotty have to retrieve the shuttle, which, of course, has gone missing, while Pike considers a face tattoo and rounds up the rest of the crew.

The animosity between Ortegas and Scotty introduced in the season premiere, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 1, “Valles Marineris,” fuels the friction as they encounter obstacle after obstacle trying to find the shuttle.

The missing pieces to their lost memory begin to fall into place, but the picture remains incomplete, especially once they smash the only tricorder on the planet.

Ortegas: Why would you throw it at me to show me a security system?

Scotty: Dunno. I’m probably not the best decision maker right now.

Ortegas: Understatement.

But after Spock communes with the photosynthetic tech security system, La’an stages a coup with the local street gang, and Scotty and Ortegas survive a black bag kidnapping, our crew returns to the ship successfully.

Bombing the Peace Talks

They’re in time to greet the Rodaxian delegations and begin the peace talks. Sort of. Pike talks. And they want peace.

But the Alpha Team is still feeling the effects of Seznar Grand, so it’s the worst sort of mindset when the Rodaxians are reputed to be the quadrant’s biggest sticklers for formality and ritual.

So, of course, Scotty finds a crazy bomb planted in the shuttle, intended to disrupt, possibly destroy the peace talks.

And then Spock finds a recording of pre-blackout Ortegas and Scotty explaining to their future selves that they should, under no circumstances, bring the super-sketchy shuttle back to the Enterprise as it has been tampered with by unknown miscreants.

That’s why they disabled and hid it and told Dendru to make sure they didn’t find it.

I love that two of the smartest minds on the ship came up with the worst possible way to communicate with themselves.

They save the ship by shuttling the bomb far enough away to detonate safely. Which is only safe for them — excepting Scotty’s thumb — because Spock and not-so-imaginary James Kirk transport them back at the moment of detonation.

And, so incredibly improbably (but possibly ironically?), the dissidents who planted the bomb loaded it with the traditional incendiaries of the ancient Rodaxian formal Rite of Peace, which the delegates take as a great honor, putting them in the mood to negotiate.

Even if Pike’s still not exactly looking like a typical Starfleet liaison.

Not Quite The Simpsons, But Still Weirdly Prescient

A quick aside: Is anyone else weirded out by how the first three episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 have tied into recent celebrity deaths?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 1, “Valles Marineris,” brought to mind Jurassic Park, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 2, “The Griffin Incident,” was an homage to Event Horizon, both Sam Neill (#RIP) films.

Yes, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 3, “Human Best Friend,” riffs on The Hangover, but it’s Una belting out the Bonnie Tyler (#RIP) hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Klingon that steals the show. Just not the shuttle.

The Shore Leave We All Needed

Some people will chalk “Human Best Friend” up to being a frivolous, filler episode full of crazy costumes, silly antics, and unlikely scenarios.

But I would caution that there is always more than the surface impression to episodes in these ten-episode modern seasons.

“Human Best Friend” sends a clear message that honesty with oneself is as vital as honest communication between teammates. Ortegas and Scotty learn that lesson. Spock learns it.

Additionally, Spock’s sharing of his deepest vulnerabilities with his imaginary Kirk lays the groundwork for their canonical relationship.

Finally, I’m always up for Klingon power ballads. Warrior songs, indeed. If Una’s singing didn’t make you smile, I can’t imagine your damage.

Star Trek has always pushed boundaries. It has always been progressive and aspirational. And, you know what? It’s FUN.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds leans in on different genres. It takes big swings and allows its characters to stretch and grow and PLAY.

Did you enjoy this excursion, Fanatics? Did it leave your head spinning? Would you book another trip to Seznar Grand?

Hit our comments with your dream itinerary and vote for your favorite inebriated crew member in the poll below!

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