Spoilers follow for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 3, “Human Best Friend.”
Ortegas and Scotty (Melissa Navia and Martin Quinn, respectively) get the spotlight this week, as their long-simmering (well, two-episode long) dislike for one another comes to a head in an attempt at a comedy episode that’s not necessarily funny, but is at least kind of fun at times thanks to game performances from some of the cast.
With the crew burning the warp core intermix chamber at both ends lately, and a key peace negotiation pending, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and First Officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) decide Alpha Shift needs a vacation. So a quick trip is planned to a resort planet where the unique atmosphere causes a type of inebriation for all who land there… and, of course, a lot of silliness too.
Look, Star Trek has been doing comedy episodes practically since the very beginning, and sometimes quite well, but there’s a trick to it. You can’t really make fun of your characters or break the logic of how they fit into the Star Trek world, and I’m afraid that “Human Best Friend” skirts dangerously close to both of those no-nos on occasion.
Again, it’s a fine line. When a sober Ortegas and not-so-sober Scotty visit an apparently wasted Spock (Ethan Peck), he’s still very Spock-like. “I apologize for the mess,” he says as he adjusts a chess piece’s placement on the board by about one centimeter. It’s subtle and one of the funniest moments in all of “Human Best Friend,” but later, when the pair visit Pike as he’s getting a tattoo, it feels like the entire Strange New Worlds universe is cracking around us thanks to Mount’s over-the-top take on an inebriated Pike. It’s like seeing your boss drunk at the office holiday party, or even worse… your dad at a family gathering! Get it together, man.
Yes, I understand that Christopher Pike is capable of getting drunk (or whatever we’re calling this state), and yes, I also understand that he deserves some R&R like anyone else does. I also recognize that Mount is doing a swell job with the performance. But for the captain of the Enterprise to allow himself to be seen in such a state by his crew… I’m sorry. Maybe I’ve just spent too much time with Captain Picard in my life, but that sort of cheap gag breaks the show.
So each character gets their own bit to play: Workaholic Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), so unwilling to relax, becomes the ultimate relaxer and relaxation host; Una sings Klingon karaoke power ballads; Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) does his best Cocktail impression; La’an (Christina Chong) is in commando mode (again); Chapel (Jess Bush) becomes a win-or-die Bingo player; and so on. Some of these bits are cute, some are a bit eye-rolley, but none really pop.
If the episode works at all, it’s because of Navia and Quinn, who have good chemistry and whose characters actually get to grow a bit through these shenanigans, as they’re forced to work together first to deliver a letter to the captain (“A piece of paper!?” says an amazed Scotty) and then to find their missing shuttle. That the two realize they’ve likely been butting heads because they’re, as Scotty puts it, “not so different after all,” is a nice enough thread for “Human Best Friend,” and sweetly played.
But again, the logic of the episode is flawed. By the time Pike and the crew are trying to fake their way through the negotiations back on the ship while still drunk – negotiations involving a civil war, mind you – it’s pretty clear that Alpha Shift really shoulda called in Beta Shift not just for the negotiations, but for the episode itself.
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
- Dave Foley is mostly wasted as one of those annoying Star Trek alien salesmen types, but he does get a line or two that are worth a chuckle.
- “It’s green.” Now we know where Scotty picked that one up!
- I guess Ortegas keeps the gaffer tape handy.
- Why waste a mugato costume when you’ve got one laying around?
- We don’t usually hear about duty shifts (Alpha, etc.) on Starfleet ships. No doubt Captain Jellico would be pleased by all the mentions here (while simultaneously disappointed that it’s only a three-shift rotation).
- The animated sequence in the planet’s advertisement is cute, but did you notice the woman wearing the same outfit that Andrea has on in TOS’ “What Are Little Girls Made of?”
- So now we know that Scotty has six brothers. And this doesn’t include the at least one sister he has, who will one day have a son – the ill-fated Peter Preston from Wrath of Khan.
- Bring back cookies!
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