Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - S2 E10 - "Hegemony"
August 10, 2023
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 Finale Recap: A Heartpounding Cliffhanger
The Gorn return in the 'Strange New Worlds' Season 2 finale, leaving Captain Pike to make a deadly decision.
By Samantha Coley
In another abrupt tonal shift, the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 finale sees the crew of the USS Enterprise caught between a moon and a Gorn place. When the Gorn return with a violent and extremely deadly attack on a new colony at the edge of Federation space, Starfleet orders Captain Pike (Anson Mount) not to get involved, but with innocent people on the ground, Pike must get creative with his unsanctioned rescue mission.
Written by series co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers and directed by Maja Vrvilo, "Hegemony" is reminiscent of The Next Generation's iconic Season 3 cliffhanger "The Best of Both Worlds," as it leaves key characters in deadly situations that won't be resolved until the next season returns. However, with the Enterprise facing a decidedly different enemy, "Hegemony" stumbles into some disappointing misogynist plot points that leave the series on a sour note. That isn't to say that the episode is bad — for the most part "Hegemony" is a heart-pounding suspense thriller in the vein of Alien or Jurassic Park. The episode even introduces a Star Trek: The Original Series fan-favorite and finally lands some excellent Spock/Chapel moments.
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Now that felt like Star Trek. Great episode!
Not very happy about a cliffhanger with almost a year's wait ahead. I know it used to be a regular thing, but back then we only had to wait 3 months.
Young Scotty was a really fun surprise, but I found the "leftenant" thing annoying. Did he ever say it the British way before?
The Gorn are certainly a cool antagonist species, but it kind of sucks that all of this interaction with Starfleet in this time period is breaking canon. I wasn't sure how they were going to make the encounter last year fit into canon. Now it's starting to look like they don't even care.
I hate cliffhangers, but I loved the episode.
I like the new Scotty. I don't remember him ever saying "leftenant" in TOS, but I'm ok with it now. It's not like James Doohan's Scottish accent sounded especially authentic.
I was a bit pissed with Batel when she arrested Una, but she sure has been redeeming herself ever since.
I hope they save Batel. They have her in stasis, so maybe.
So I loved the ep and I even loved the cliffhanger, but my problem is with the Gorn (and all sci-fi that have creatures like this).
I don't see how they could evolve into anything intelligent. They seem like eating machines. Kind of like Alien (until we understand better what their true purpose is). Corny as the original Gorn was, at least it had an opposable thumb and could walk erect.
IDK... maybe I'm missing something.
But predators are usually pretty intelligent. They often have to be.
Wow, this group has just gone totally dead!
I am hoping the same happens to this edition of life on an Ashram in a Kibbutz. Jess Bush gets a guess-why pass.
Thanks for the reminder. That's what happens when they only have 10 episodes per season and make us wait 2 years between them.
Hollywood has become lazy as hell. Old shows like Gunsmoke started with 39 episodes per season. The original Star Trek started with 29 episodes, and TNG, DS9, and VOY all had 26.
It's hard to stay interested with the crumbs they toss out these days. Instead of Strange New Worlds, maybe they should have named it Few and Far Between.
I'll try to post something after I get caught up.
So much this.
I remember the chills that ran down my spine when Picard was shown as Locutus in a season finale cliffhanger. There was no way we wouldn't be watching the next season. But we didn't have to wait 2 years for the next season's cliffhanger resolution.
Kind of why I lost interest in LOR Rings Of Power. Over two years waiting between season one and two on Amazon Prime Video, a service I pay for. Almost not worth it.
Something I really, really miss is the way all the shows I used to follow would line up with the seasons. I loved the fall to spring format, with a summer break in between. With fall being my favorite time of year, it just added to the good feeling when my shows came back.
I guess the regular networks still do that, but it seems to be gone with the streaming shows. Hell, Netflix just started a new season of Wednesday in the middle of summer instead of waiting for Halloween when it would have been so much more fun. I don't know why they do stuff like that.
I hear you.
I'm sure I'll still get around to watching Rings of Power, even though sitting here right now I have no idea when it will be back.
These streaming networks need to get their acts together.
I agree completely.
Streaming platforms use "low ratings" as reasons to cancel shows, but they bring those low ratings on themselves through these stupid decisions and delays in releasing new material.
When shows were strictly a network thing, we all knew the game. Shows would end a season on a cliffhanger, and come hell or high water, they knew we'd be tuning in next season. Locutus. Who shot JR? It was absolutely emotional manipulation, but we each played our part, and we all liked the results. Networks got their audience back in the fall, and we got new seasons of our favorite shows.
Dammit, Netflix (and Paramount Plus, Prime, Hulu, and all the rest) - learn how to market and deliver a TV series. If you play your part, we'll watch.
Absolutely, and Netflix is the worst about that. They cancel shows even when they have good ratings. Before Covid they had a quirky little show called I Am Not Okay With This. It had great ratings, and lots of positive articles and reviews were written about it. I got a kick out of it and was looking forward to more, but no. Covid happened and instead of just waiting a little while they fired everyone and cancelled it. I usually don't watch things based on comic books, but I really enjoyed that one.
I'll have to check back in once I've watched. I'm re-watching the first 2 seasons to refresh my memory.
Ok. I've rewatched both seasons, and am ready to start talking about Season 3.
I finally got caught up myself and posted an article this morning for the first 6 episodes. I didn't want to do individual articles because that would have been a mess, plus there's another one coming on Thursday so I wanted to get them done.
It's already dropped off the trending and recent lists on the front page, but it's still on the right in the columnists thing.