Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 episode rankings

Captain Pike questions Dr. M'Benga

The season's darkest episode and with intense character development and depth of Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel. The audience is presented with whether it is fair to expect someone to so easily forgive and forget. The concepts of post traumatic stress disorder are explored. A moral dilemma and question is left to the audience of whether Dr. M'Benga killed Ambassador Dak'Rah in cold blood or in self defense.

Enterprise attacked by 4 gorn ships

The season finale, conclusion to the season long question regarding the Gorn. Cliffhangers galore and we are introduced to our beloved Original Series character Scotty who charms us with aplomb. We wonder if Captain Batel will survive and the ongoing romantic tension between Spock and Nurse Chapel continues.  We also see some cool sci-fi tech in anti-gorn weaponry and more species relevant information is revealed about the Gorn.

Mining Planet Calijara 4

Great graphics and great adventure on mining planet Calijara 4 as Spock steals the enterprise to go help La'an Noonien-Singh foil a renegade Klingon's plot to start another Klingon-Federation war for the simple motives of greed and profit. We are introduced to Chief Offier Pelia and see Spock's "thing" as he orders the ship to warp with the simple phrase "I would like the ship to go... NOW." This foreshadows a season long amount of fun and humor. The only drawback to this episode is the strange superpower juice, later revealed as Protocol 12 serum, which makes Dr. M'Benga's and Nurse Chapel's attack on the Klingons comical. Although it seemed strangely out of place, it added to the story and depth to Episode 8.

I order you to eat a Hot Dog

I loved this episode because of the interaction of James Kirk and Li'an. It truly added depth to both characters in this series. Prior to this episode I did not care for LI'an at all and after this I was fully invested into her character. It also gives the new James Kirk some credibility. I'm still perplexed by the common use of time travel in the new series, but it seems just another plot device and nothing too serious. This show sets up the tension and emotional pain that Li'an displays in later episodes and really gives her a good background story. We also get a glimpse into Pelia's past as well.

Spock gets the joke

A fun episode where Spock's character is developed, especially his human side which opens the door for him and Nurse Chapel to couple off. Not only do we see some of the negative cultural sides of Vulcans, but we see Spock undergo character changes that likely will develop compassion and sympathy which will aid him as an statesman and ambassador, not to mention a cooler demeanor under pressure. There is high comedic value in this episode as Spock experiences human emotion in its full glory for the first time. This is also the episode where Spock utters the famous line "Dont test me Kirk, I will break you!"

Safe Hemmer

The next three could likely be interchanged in ranking...Sort of a scary episode due to hallucinations that Nyota Uhura experiences. We see Nyota Uhura's character developed more as she is able to decipher a hidden language from a new species that lives on deuterium.  We later learn that the hallucinations are messages from the new life forms, not hallucinations after all.

King Zac!

Not a bad episode just that the others are better. This episode is about an asteroid that contains material that causes memory loss. It is a pretty cool concept and well executed. An ensign that was left behind makes himself King of the planet since he is unaffected by the effects of the asteroid metal.

Make your blood scream!

A very fun episode with a good sci-fi twist of a subspace fold, this could be a rank or two higher however, it was a close rank. This episode is the first musical episode of any of the Star Treks and very well done with an excellent musical score. It is available on Spotify and is very popular. This episode is immortal due to its inclusion of singing klingons with choreographed klingon dancers, which was frankly the highlight of the episode.

Crossover

Another fun episode with lots of fan service, especially if you like the animated series Star Trek Lower Decks. Two characters from the future (and from the Lower Decks show) go back in time and are on the Enterprise. It was a very light and upbeat episode and delivered earlier than usual, to the delight of fans. It was well executed considering there were live actors playing the animated characters.

Federation Court

Latin for "To ascend through hard work," this episode is a throwback to older TV days of a courtroom drama. It shows the struggle of Una Chin-Riley and some consider it to be social commentary on acceptance of trans-sexuals. It was a good story and did develop Una's character. However there was not a large amount of Sci-fi in it. But it was still a good episode, just not the best, compared to the others.