Strange New Worlds S2 Ep10 - Hegemony

The second season finale arrives and we get the answer to the Gorn question we've been waiting for all season... What about the Gorn? The episode has some wonderful reveals, adds to Trek lore and ends on a cliffhanger.

This episode is suspenseful and action-packed from the beginning as a nice quaint Midwestern styled town from the 21st century. The USS Cayuga arrives on a humanitarian mission to provide vaccines and help the colony get on its feet with stabilized crops. A picture of a quaint Midwestern town is shown and is explained to be intentionally designed to resemble that time period. Suddenly a small ship crashes in the distance and an alien ship appears and chaos ensues as the alien (Gorn) takeover ensues.

A distress signal is sent out and the Enterprise is close enough to respond. After a meeting with Admiral April with orders not to engage, Captain Pike arrives to the planet orbit to see debris from a destroyed USS Cayuga and a recently arrived Gorn Hunter ship. It is then full on action and suspense as Captain Pike takes an away team of volunteers to to the planet surface to rescue whoever is alive.

They play dead, wade through the debris and perform a daring landing onto the planet surface with newly designed weapons catered to destroy the Gorn. The rest of the episode is spent as a dual story as the away team try to find a way off the planet and as the Enterprise tries to figure out a way to save everyone on the planet.

Introducing Montgomery Scott

A nice reveal in this episode is the discovery that the crash shuttle craft early on in the episode was an escape craft containing Scotty the Engineer from the destroyed USS Stardiver. He states he was studying the increased solar flares from a Red Supergiant Sun in the Shangdi system (one system over) when he and crew were attacked by the Gorn. He was able to rig an escape system into his shuttle craft which allowed him to escape by emulating Gorn Transponders.

Lt. Erica Ortegas finally on an away team

A lingering story line or gag of the season is that Ortegas has never been able to join an away team as she is always left behind to "fly the ship." However her piloting skills are needed to guide the away team shuttle craft through the debris field and land on the planet without being detected by Gorn scanners. It was very satisfying to see her finally be on an away team and display her piloting skills with a dashing landing onto the planet surface.

Spock and Nurse Chapel

As part of the plan to rescue the colonists and away team, the saucer remnants of the USS Cayuga will be steered via rocket propulsion attached manually so that it will crash into the planet at the location of a Gorn signal interference device allowing the crew to be beamed off. This episode still builds on the romantic tension between Spock and Nurse Chapel and in only a way that is relevant if it has been built up over the season. This sequence of scenes does a nice job of providing suspenseful action as well as reconcile, at least temporarily, the relationship between Spock and Nurse Chapel. However, things are still in question as they have not officially had a discussion on the matter, highlighting their communications problems.

Captain Marie Batel

As part of the cliffhanger, it is revealed that Captain Marie Batel was infected with the eggs the day prior to when the Captain Pike led away team arrives. She says from what they've seen in others, it takes about 1.5 days before they hatch.

The show ends on a cliffhanger

Tension builds throughout the episode as more and more ships appear facing the enterprise around the orbit of Parnassus Beta. After the USS Cayuga's saucer remnants crash into the planet surface, the Enterprise is able to beam aboard Spock, Nurse Chapel, Captain Pike, Captain Batel and Scotty. However the rest of the away team, including Dr. M'Benga, Erica Ortegas and the planet colonists were beamed aboard the Gorn ships, captured. At this point the Gorn with a fleet of 3 hunter ships and a newly arrived destroyer start an all out attack on the Enterprise and the show ends....

Science concepts this episode

Coronal mass ejection (CME) - magnetic and light ejections from a star. The official definition per wikipedia is "a significant ejection of magnetic field and accompanying plasma mass from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established."

What do we know about the Gorn so far

• Prior to this show they were featured in the original series, season 1 episode 18 titled "Arena"
• We learn that the Gorn are particularly sensitive to and communicate through light and that the solar flares from the red supergiant in the Shangdai system may have caused them to go into a feeding frenzy.
• Their rate of maturity depends on the host they implant their eggs.
• They are resistant to phaser attacks unless with multi-harmonic frequencies, they are particularly weak to and hate the cold.

Star Trek Trivia

• Crate 32 contains the new anti-gorn experimental weaponry (phasers with harmonics, nitrogen grenades, recalibrated scanners)
• Captain Pike uses authorization pike epsiloc c-6 for his in-ship crate transport.
• The USS Cayuga is NCC-1557
• The Gorn transpoder that Scotty built uses a Hubble KC7 transponder Array

Major Characters of focus in this week's episode

Captain Christopher Pike- Charming, competent, brave as he leads the away team into a Gorn infested colony to save Federation humans. The series ends with questions about if he is panicking during a Gorn attack, emotionally distraught over his potentially lost love and a cliffhanger.
Captain Marie Batel (of the USS Cayuga) - Love interest of Captain Pike, capable leader of her crew, initially not happy to see Captain Pike because he has placed himself in danger, she is shown to be infected with Gorn eggs on her left arm. The show ends with her in a sick bay stasis field and her survival is questionable. 
Montgomery Scott - beloved character from the original series is introduced and he makes quite the entrance with charm and wit. His immense intelligence and ingenuity is displayed from the start.
Chief Engineer Pelia - Becomes more relatable and lovable in this episode, however shows quite a strange relationship, possible tension filled, with Scotty. They seem to know each other again, in a teacher-student relationship where she gave him bad grades. She describes him as "the best student she's ever had."
Sam Kirk - figures out that the Gorn are likely swaming due to the solar flares, similar to the way locusts swarm.
Doctor M'Benga - Support role, but he and Ortegas are captured aboard the Gorn vessel as part of the cliffhanger.
Nurse Chapel - was en route to meet Dr. Korby by hitching a ride aboard the USS Cayuga, she was helping the colonists before beaming back prior to the ship being destroyed. She awakens aboard the debris and shipwreck with low life support. She sees a full adult Gorn scavaging the remains of the debris and stealthily makes her way to Spock.
Spock - shows is battle prowess with a Gorn but is still overpowered, luckily is able to defeat it with the aid of Nurse Chapel. Significant as Vulcans are naturally stronger than humans and the adult Gorn is stronger than Spock.
Lt. La'an Noonien-singh, chief of security - is in more of a support role this episode and provides Captain Pike with emotional support this episode.
Lt. Nyota Uhura - also in more of a support role, has an idea but needs the help of Pelia to finish the though. They figure out how to pinpoint the location of the signal interfering Gorn device on the planet surface.

Lingering Plot Lines

• The time travel episode 3 seemed pretty random, will there be more to it?
• What about Spock's half-brother, Sybok?
• Why was this seemingly simple humanitarian aid mission a "priority one" mission from Starfleet?
• Why was there a fully adult aged Gorn in a spacesuit on the remains of the USS Cayuga, seemingly trying to hack into the computer?
• How do we reconcile the Gorn from The Original Series to current Gorn in terms of species and diplomacy?
  
  

Links to other episodes

Season 2 Episode 1 - The Broken Circle
Season 2 Episode 2 - Ad Astra Per Astera
Season 2 Episode 3 - Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Season 2 Episode 4 - Among the Lotus Eaters
Season 2 Episode 5 - Charades
Season 2 Episode 6 - Lost in Translation
Season 2 Episode 7 - Those Old Scientists
Season 2 Episode 8 - Under the Cloak of War
Season 2 Episode 9 - Subspace Rhapsody