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.
The Ready Room
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.