u/mcm8279

SNW Episode 4x5: "Level-Five Transporter Accident"

Original Airdate: 08/20/2026

Writer(s): Henry Alonso Myers & Dana Horgan
Director(s): Jordan Canning

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Guest Stars:

• Rachael Harris as Ch'Rol
• Joe Lo Truglio as Ejachi
• Adrian Holmes as Robert April
• Gia Sandhu as T'Pring

And

• Carol Kane as Pelia (voice)

Co-stars:

• Alex Kapp as USS Enterprise Computer(voice)
• Landon Nesbitt as Redshirt
• Darryl Scheelar as Orion Pirate

Uncredited co-stars:

• Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk(archive voice)

Synopsis:

"A transporter malfunction turns most of the crew into puppets while Spock fights to reclaim the ship."

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Feel free to post your thoughts and impressions here.

YOU WILL ENCOUNTER SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!

SCREENRANT:

"When Tawny Newsome guest-starred in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's beloved crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks, her character, Ensign Beckett Mariner, was thrilled to meet her hero, Uhura, only to learn that Nyota was a workaholic who can't relax. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's ode to The Hangover, "Human Best Friend," saw an inebriated new side to Nyota: Rave-hura. Playing Rave-hura "was such an exhale," Gooding beams, noting how

>CELIA ROSE GOODING: "I've been dying to play a much more chillaxed party girl role. I think, just because of the nature of me as a dramatic actor, that I am often pulled towards very serious, very busy. very Capricorn-type divas. And so, to play a version of her that is so zenned out and blissed out, and really protective of her peace… I loved the idea that she won't hang out with her best friends because they're having a really hard time with something right now, and their energy cannot come in and like muck up what Uhura's got going on."

>"I found it to be very funny when I read it in the script where she's like, 'No, you guys are doing way too much for me right now, and I'm chilling in here,'" Celia explains. "Besides the fact that her costume was incredible, besides the fact that her makeup was incredible, besides the fact that the nature of the episode is so comedic and fun, I think Rave-hura is incredibly inspired by her relationship with Mariner, the one that she had in the Lower Decks crossover. I think that the voice of Mariner, the voice of Tawny Newsome, lives in Uhura's head, just like the voice of Tawny Newsome lives in mine."

>I don't know that there has been so much unspoken evolution of Uhura and the different facets of her, and I think we get to see one that we didn't really expand on after the Lower Decks crossover in season two. I like to think that Mariner and Ortegas, if she wasn't in this sort of buddy-cop sort of situation with Scotty, I think that they would both be very proud of Rave-hura for finally letting her hair down. Even if it required atmospheric inebriation, she got there, and that is what deserves celebrating. So yeah, I love it. It's a nice callback to that episode in season 2. ..."

[...]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will end with season 5, but executive producers and showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have been vocal about wanting to spin off Paul Wesley's Captain Kirk to lead a new series dubbed Star Trek: Year One. Uhura would, of course, be part of Kirk's Enterprise crew, but would Celia Rose Gooding return to play Lieutenant Uhura?

>“Yes. Yes. Yes. 100%," Gooding answers unequivocally. "She has been like the love of my life these past five years, and so it would be an honor and a privilege to return to her and continue to grow and expand with her. That's my girl. If anybody does it, I would want it to be me.”

Gooding says returning to "civilian life" after five seasons in Starfleet, "has been interesting. When I work, I put myself in a little bit of a bubble, especially with how easy it is with our show. It's very specific, and while we have a very genre-diverse show, the genre of sci-fi is very all-encompassing."

Celia calls Star Trek "eternal," pointing out, "It is everywhere, and it's going to be a part of my life forever, which I'm so grateful for because I'm someone who needs an anchor, and I love that Trek is my anchor right now. But yeah, it's been interesting. Every day is different. I've enjoyed being at home. I know my cats miss me very much, but I'm not gonna lie: I'm missing some storytelling. I'm excited to get up into something new.” "

Full article:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-celia-rose-gooding-interview/

TREKCORE:

"Barnes does a competent job portraying the Klingon made famous by John Colicos in Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He captures some of Colicos’s mannerisms and almost matches the gravitas of his line delivery in a few places. I think the character might have benefited from Kor’s signature beard to create more of a visual tie back to the original character, but overall I thought the inclusion of Kor was fitting and added to the feeling that this episode of Strange New Worlds might have been picked directly from the original Star Trek.

https://blog.trekcore.com/2026/08/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-episode-404-review-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

I am curious how this episode will land with the audience, because it felt like it was making a decision to lean into more than just the look and feel or a noir story. The scenes felt longer and the dialogue felt denser than in a typical episode of Strange New Worlds, and I had a great time with it. I think the show benefits when its characters have more time to breathe and actually interact with each other… but will modern audiences think it’s too slow? I can certainly see that being a criticism. [...]

I don’t think all of the noir tropes totally worked, though. The episode hinges on Una’s appearance matching that of the Mat’aaran resistance leader and double agent Nevette.  Noir movies like The Hollow Triumph, Dead Ringer, and Vertigo feature some variation on the plot revolving around two characters being identical, but in the case of Strange New Worlds,  I felt the explanation was a little too handwaved by M’Benga when he said something to the effect of “in a universe as vast as ours, that we don’t stumble on our doppelgangers more often is the bigger mystery.”

I can go with it in this instance because it does make the episode more interesting and gets our characters into the mix quickly, but it’s one of those moments that stands out as being a break of the fourth wall towards this week’s genre rather than because it feels like an organic part of an episode of Star Trek.

My other criticism is that Kor appears with head ridges. (I know! I know!) Strange New Worlds is the same visual reboot of 23rd century Star Trek that started with Discovery. It is the same universe, same characters, and same continuity, but it has been visually updated to work for a modern audience. And I have mostly made my peace with that, almost a decade since Discovery premiered.

But the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes “Affliction” and “Divergence” established that Klingons without ridges in the original Star Trek was not just a visual cue but had a story explanation as well. That of course complicated Deep Space Nine’s visual reboot when Kor came back with full ridges, but Strange New Worlds has complicated it again even further.

I know I am in the small minority of Strange New Worlds viewers who would have understood what was happening if Demore Barnes walked on screen without Klingon ridges, but I was hoping we’d either never see The Original Series Klingons or that Strange New Worlds would find a way to reconcile everything together. They chose not to and just to go with the idea hinted at in “Blood Oath” that Klingons have ALWAYS had ridges, but I’m a little disappointed by that choice.

I really do not like the new Vulcan cadet, A’Sha (Bianca Nugara). In both this episode and “Valles Marineres,” she has been extremely rude to superior officers in a way that feels like a deep misunderstanding of what Vulcans are like. Enterprise ultimately corrected for its depiction of asshole Vulcans by the fourth season, and Strange New Worlds should know better than this. [...]

If Klingon makeup is all I have to complain about, then this is a pretty good episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The genre added to the story and the character work, the episode was dark yet ultimately hopeful, and I am happy any time we get more Una.

After a couple of episodes of Strange New Worlds that just did not work for me, “A Case of Chiaroscuro” is a very nice palette cleanser — and the most Original Series-esque episode we’ve gotten in a long time."

Alex Perry (TrekCore)

Full review:

https://blog.trekcore.com/2026/08/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-episode-404-review-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

MOVIEWEB:

"I know it's supposed to be a somewhat playful moment, but I couldn't help but feel like I was being beaten over the head with a sentiment that could have remained unspoken, and therefore more powerful. It was already incredibly unsubtle, but this moment robbed the episode's narrative debrief of its moment to sit in quiet contemplation.

The canon explanation for Star Trek's noir episode being in black and white is that Ma'taar 12's sun emits a rare form of radiation that impacts how color is perceived. This is stated at the top of the episode, which immediately removed the possibility of the phenomenon being a mystery that needed solving. Starfleet was already aware of it. So, I assumed the lack of color would turn out to be central to the plot, rather than serving as an in-your-face visual metaphor to reflect the episode's message.

As such, you can imagine my disappointment when that Dr. M'Benga line about the nature of morality was uttered. What I really wanted was a situation to arise where colors other than black and white were immediately relevant to the story at hand. Maybe a bomb needed disarming, and the red wire needed to be cut. How would anyone know which wire was red? I'm not saying that exactly, but something of that ilk. But nope, "A Case of Chiaroscuro" did very little to directly address its reduced color palette. Now, this particular gimmick has been used up, so Star Trek is far less likely to use it in the future, making this episode feel like a huge missed opportunity."

Daniel Bibby (MovieWeb.com)

Full article:

https://movieweb.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-noir-gimmick/

Nick Hallam (Sci-Finatics):

"I was sitting there thinking, "Oh, please don't let this just be Star Trek copying The Hangover." Because comedy is actually one of the hardest genres to get right. If drama misses the mark, it can still be interesting. And if an action sequence isn't spectacular, the story could still carry it. But if a comedy isn't funny, the whole thing falls apart.

So I went into this episode with fairly low expectations, and honestly, I'm delighted to say I was completely wrong.

https://youtu.be/77aiLIm31AA?si=OAKpV8uaUY6zcyeY

Pike is due to conduct an important diplomatic ceremony earlier than anticipated, only for them to discover no one knows where he is. And all our characters are behaving very unlike their normal selves, thanks to the intoxicating effects of the resort planet's drunk-inducing oxygen. And almost immediately, the comedy starts landing. Not because of outrageous slapstick, but because of how perfectly everybody commits to the absurdity.

That's actually something this cast has become remarkably good at. Nobody ever feels like they're winking at the audience. No one plays it as parody. They treat the ridiculous situation with complete sincerity, which somehow makes it even funnier. Now, we have to talk about Anson Mount because this man has incredible range. [...] Watching Pike try to maintain the dignity expected of a Starfleet captain while clearly not functioning at 100% is absolutely hilarious.

And the face tattoo, it's such an obvious nod to The Hangover, but Mount sells it completely. He kind of over plays it, but it works and goes just far enough to never turn Pike into a cartoon. He's simply a deeply embarrassed captain desperately trying to hold everything together before an important diplomatic event, whether it's attempting to bluff his way through diplomatic responsibilities or simply looking like a man questioning every decision that led him to this moment.

While Pike gets many of the biggest laughs, this episode really belongs to two main characters, Scotty and Ortegas. [...] Neither one fully appreciates what they themselves bring to the table. It's a surprising mature piece of character writing hidden underneath all the laughs. By the end of the episode, their friendship actually feels earned. Not because they suddenly become best mates overnight, but because they finally understand each other.

Now, here's something I don't think enough people are going to be talking about. Normally, Ortegas is the funny one. She's usually delivering the sarcastic one-liners, the quick quips, the comic relief. But this week, everything flips. Suddenly, everyone around her is behaving ridiculously. Scotty's all over the place. Pike is missing. Spock thinks he's incapacitated, seeing everyone as potted plants. Una is off singing Klingon karaoke. So, Ortegas becomes what comedians call the straight character, the audience's anchor, the one reacting to everybody else's insanity.

And that's actually much harder to play than being the person delivering punchlines. Comedy often works because character is treating the ridiculous situation completely seriously. Melissa Navia absolutely nails that balance. She's constantly giving Scotty that look that says, "I cannot believe I'm dealing with this." kind of expression. And yet underneath all the frustration, there's affection. By the end, you genuinely believe these two have become friends because the performances earn it.

The more I watch the episode, the more I realize it's actually drawing from decades of classic buddy comedies. Yes, obviously The Hangover is the obvious inspiration, but it's also got shades of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, The Odd Couple, Step Brothers. They're all built around the same simple idea. Take two people with completely opposite personalities, force them to work together as a team, and let the sparks fly. It's one of the oldest comedy formulas in Hollywood because it works. The trick is making us care about both characters, and that's where Human Best Friend succeeds.

Scotty and Ortegas aren't simply arguing because the script needs conflict, they're arguing because they're insecure. Scotty envies Ortega's confidence, and Ortega envies Scotty's brilliance. Neither one says it outright, at least not initially, but it's there throughout the episode. That emotional truth gives the comedy something to build upon.

What I also appreciated was the episode didn't simply remain a comedy from beginning to end. Eventually, all the laughs led to a genuinely Star Trek story. [...] Because everybody commits to the reality of the moment. That's something Strange New Worlds has become pretty good at. The cast never treat the material like a joke. They play it as if all these situations are genuinely happening, and ironically, that makes them even funnier.

Another sequence I really enjoyed was Spock's encounter with Jim Kirk, which is where the title for this episode, "The Human Best Friend", originates. [...]

We've been cautioned to distrust everything we're seeing, so when something genuinely finally appears, Spock and the audience reject it. It's a classic reversal of expectations. Ethan Peck's deadpan delivery sells it perfectly, and it's understated, beautifully timed, and one of the funniest payoffs in the episode. Although, after we did learn that Kirk was real, I did question the course of action of slapping Spock in the face. I'm not sure the HR department of Starfleet would really approve of that course of action. [...]

I also have to mention Una because I never knew I needed Klingon karaoke until I saw this episode. It's exactly the sort of wonderfully bizarre idea that only Strange New Worlds would attempt and somehow it feels perfectly at home in this universe. But what really made me smile were all the little background details. The Klingon song titles, remakes of Earth karaoke power ballad classics. Yellow Battle Cruiser rather than Yellow Submarine. Romulan Rhapsody rather than Bohemian Rhapsody. Let It Go from Frozen. Honor or Cowardice, which I think maybe would be most likely all or nothing from O-Town, smells like bad blood wine rather than smells like teen spirit.

And obviously the song that Una sings, Bonnie Tyler's Aim for the Second Heart rather than Total Eclipse of the Heart. Those are the sort of touches that reward long-time fans and also new viewers alike. [...]

And there was a point in this episode where I realized this episode's got me. I stopped comparing it to The Hangover and I simply started enjoying the ride. More importantly, I realized I wasn't just smiling politely, I was actually laughing. And that's probably the biggest compliment I can pay the episode. I honestly thought this might become one of my least favorite episodes of the season. The premise kind of sounded gimmicky.

Instead, I came away pleasantly surprised. Yes, there are moments where you can almost see the blueprint of The Hangover underneath Starfleet uniforms. But what elevates this episode is the cast. Martin Quinn finally gets the showcase episode Scotty deserves. Melissa Navia proves once again why Ortegas is one of the most likable characters on the show. Ethan Peck demonstrates that deadpan comedy is an art form. And Anson Mount continues to prove he can seemingly play any genre you throw at him.

Most importantly, the episode remembers something that many television comedies forget. The funniest stories aren't really about jokes. They're about characters. If you care about the people, the laughs come naturally, and Human Best Friend absolutely understands that. It's warm, charming, genuinely funny. It develops two important characters beautifully.

So, while Human Best Friend may not be the most original premise Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has ever tackled, I think it's pretty entertaining. It's an episode carried by wonderful performances, chemistry, and cast who look like they're having a lot of fun. And that enjoyment is infectious."

Nick Hallam (Sci-Finatics)

Full video review:

https://youtu.be/77aiLIm31AA?si=OAKpV8uaUY6zcyeY

REACTOR:

"Michael was the person who saw Spock when nobody else could. And her final words to him, when Spock admits fearing that he’ll be unable to find his balance without her, are arguably the ones that lead him directly into the orbit of a farmboy from Iowa and his grumpy southern doctor bff:

>“Listen to me, little brother: This is the last advice I’ll ever be able to give you. There is a whole galaxy out there full of people who will reach for you. You have to let them. Find that person who seems farthest from you, and reach for them. Reach for them. Let them guide you.”

https://reactormag.com/strange-new-worlds-spock-kirk-secret/

So it sucks, really, that Spock can’t share this with Jim. It’s likely that McCoy gets the information (or some semblance of it, at least) when Spock’s katra takes up residence in his mind following Wrath of Khan, but the person Spock is closest to by every conceivable measure is on the outs.

Unless Strange New Worlds just fixed that.

The latest episode, a vehicle created primarily to help Ortegas and Scotty reconcile their differences, is called “Human Best Friend.” [...] Jim appears again, impressed at Spock’s technical acumen, and Spock reveals that he knows why Jim is there: He has never had a human best friend. His subconscious is manifesting someone he can share his “fears, hopes, dreams” with.

Jim is so down for this sharing session: “Okay, buddy: Let’s talk,” he says, mirroring Spock’s posture and never breaking eye contact.

[...]

Ortegas finally acknowledges Kirk as she hauls Scotty off to sickbay following his interlude with the bomb. The error becomes clear and Spock, rightly, questions why Kirk was even on the planet.

The answers are unsatisfying because that was never the point. Jim was just on leave in the same place. He’s happy to have run into Spock and spent more time together; according to Jim, “a mind meld only takes you so far.” (Yeah. He’s never beating the “long talks by starlight” allegations.)

Spock is mortified. He told Kirk all of his secrets. But it’s okay, because Jim promises that every single one of those secrets is safe and tucked away. They’re closer than ever now, and that’s a good thing. Spock has found his human best friend.

But, perhaps more importantly… what’s Spock’s biggest secret?

So now we know. Jim Kirk knows all about Michael Burnham, to a degree of detail that Spock probably finds embarrassing. He just never mentions it to anyone else because he follows Starfleet rules. And, if anything, this information lends more credibility to the times when Kirk is surprised by Spock’s undisclosed relationships—he already knows about the biggest and most secret one! He basically got the report with the redacted information in big text and the public info blacked out.

And he never bothered to question it because he’s an absurdly sincere person. Even when his Vulcan best friend keeps slamming him with new in-laws every five to ten years."

Emmet Asher-Perrin (Reactor.com)

Full article:

https://reactormag.com/strange-new-worlds-spock-kirk-secret/

DEADLINE:

"In a wide-ranging interview with Deadline held on her one-year anniversary, Wiseman discussed Paramount+’s programming strategy and its different areas: female forward, genre and YA dramas — but not comedies — kids and family programming and unscripted. She spoke about Paramount+’s relationship with its top creators, Sheridan and Tyler Perry — who recently sold his stake in BET+ to Paramount — teasing more shows from both.

Wiseman also talked about buying from sister studios Paramount TV Studios and CBS Studios and, for the first time in Paramount+’s history, from outside studios, too, about the future of the Star Trek franchise and the Showtime brand as well as building a slate with the WBD merger noise in the background and plans for Year 2."

https://deadline.com/2026/08/paramount-plus-jane-wiseman-interview-programming-strategy-1237040692/#comment-list-wrapper

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Interview excerpts:

"[...]

DEADLINE: Along with female dramas, genre has been a priority. You brought in top genre executive Chris Parnell to lead the efforts but haven’t announced any series. Where are you in the process and what areas are you focusing on? I’ve heard world-building, fantasy, romantasy. Everybody wants their Game of Thrones and Stranger Things .

WISEMAN: Speaking of spaces, the space is wide open. We’re the home of Star Trek, and we have series coming back. We’re going to have more. Yellowjackets, I guess, is also considered genre, and Dexter. But as far as new things coming to the service, true, we want our world-building, platform-defining genre series, and that can be grounded. In fact, we hope it is grounded because the best genre shows have relationships at the center.

What’s also exciting is that we have a Paramount library to choose from, titles that we’re investigating that you’ll hear from at a later date. And there’s nothing better than hearing an original idea for a grounded genre series that speaks to a lot of people. So the space is pretty wide open. And yes, you alluded to Chris Parnell, there’s no one better in that space, and there’s no one more in that space that I want on my team.

DEADLINE: Do you feel strongly about your development? Do you think that your signature genre show may be one that you already have in the works?

WISEMAN: I will say that when you’re developing these genre platform-defining shows, they do tend to take a little bit longer. But I would say for sure that there are a handful of titles, from our studio partners as well as a third party, that we are looking at right now, developing, and are on a very, very strong path to green light. I just can’t talk about anything right now.

DEADLINE: What is your plan for the Star Trek franchise? It is at crossroads with Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy ending and no new series greenlit. If I heard you correctly, you said that something is coming. Yes?

WISEMAN: Well, it’s one of the reasons why Chris is here as the resident number one fan of the Star Trek franchise. And there’s so many people in this building, by the way, that are. It is our goal and it is our job to figure out what the next bounce of Star Trek is. We’re talking to a lot of writers, we are leaning on CBS Studios, and it is imperative that we figure out what the next iteration is in this franchise because it’s just too important. We also are in touch with Paramount Pictures, they have a Star Trek movie that’s in development.

[...]"

Full interview:

https://deadline.com/2026/08/paramount-plus-jane-wiseman-interview-programming-strategy-1237040692/#comment-list-wrapper

CBR: "During an interview with TV Insider, Star Trek star William Shatner said he would like to return to the iconic sci-fi franchise as James T. Kirk. Shatner explained that he admires the character and believes that returning could bring an older, wiser perspective to the role and the series.

While there are no official plans yet, Shatner’s interest is good news for fans who want to see the original Kirk again. His return could help guide the franchise, create a new story that deals with his character’s ending in Generations, and bring the series back to its roots. [...]

https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-captain-return-save-franchise/

Star Trek has never been a series of space fantasy or cyberpunk dystopias, but is rather about bringing together different species to explore the nature of existence, made possible only through its standalone adventures on the great frontier. And this is what’s needed to push the franchise forward: a return to the moral lessons, sharp character development, and anticipation of the pre-Enterprise era. [...]

Unlike Picard, Spock, McCoy, Sisko, and essentially every other OG character, Kirk still has a lot more room for development. There are still several parts of his past left unexplored, including his time teaching at Starfleet Academy, his role as an eyewitness to Kodos’ massacre of 4,000 colonists, and the specifics behind his reprogramming of the Kobayashi Maru test.

The prospect of seeing an older Kirk return to fill in the gaps in these details is an exciting thought in itself. But it’s what can be achieved from this potential that would give the franchise its much-needed push. Developing his character with a fresh storyline, perhaps one in which he’s passing down wisdom acquired from such adventures, would offer an ideal opportunity for continuation. [...]

Today, Star Trek wouldn’t benefit from a simple handover between generations, mostly because there’s nothing substantial to work from. That’s what worked for TNG and DS9; both were built upon two already successful shows ready to hand over the reins.

This is why Shatner’s Kirk is the answer. His return would build on The Original Series to address gaps in his character, introduce a new crew alongside him to guide, and set up an eventual handover that would push the franchise in a new direction. And, for those ready to argue that Picard did the same thing, the issue with Stewart’s series was that the titular character was already mostly fleshed out, which led to unnecessary subplots and drama.

Thankfully, with a lot still to explore, Kirk’s return would avoid this, making him the only one capable of saving Star Trek from its impending doom. After all these decades, Shatner’s captain is still the most recognizable character from the sci-fi franchise, and if Paramount really wants to make Star Trek bigger and better than ever before, it needs to look to its past to bring back the one man who can help it boldly go into the future."

Amy Watkins (CBR)

Full article:

https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-captain-return-save-franchise/

TREKMOVIE: "Not the beginning of a beautiful friendship. They really went for it in this one, taking a big swing into noir, complete with black and white. While the ambition can be admired, the execution came up short. If you are going to take a big swing, the key is to hit the ball. And the trick is to hit it both in terms of the genre you are shooting for, and also in terms of Star Trek and serving the characters. It’s a tall order and hard to do, admittedly.

https://trekmovie.com/2026/08/13/recap-review-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-obscures-shades-of-gray-in-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

This was certainly a solid episode for Una, who has been given more prominence this season, with Rebecca Romijn delivering a strong and nuanced performance. She’s ably assisted by Babs Olusanmokun, who has become this show’s Klingon whisperer, once again showing Dr. M’Benga’s complex past as a war veteran. Una also showed important growth and depth as she struggled with balancing her Starfleet ambition and troubled Illyrian past. We also got some great moments with Uhura, although it’s unclear how she was able to resist the Klingon mind scanner.

In order to get into the genre, this episode asks us to accept a lot of handwaving, and to be honest, it’s not worth nitpicking because that is actually part of the Star Trek bargain that is worth paying. But when it came to truly exploring this genre, the episode has more to bring when it comes to the visual style. Mat’Aar XII looked pretty cool, inspired by the German expressionism films of Fritz Lang, especially Metropolis. The sets and costumes were impressive.

And of course “A Case of Chiaroscuro” leaned heavily into an homage to the classic film Casablanca, with Una standing in for Rick the café owner, the Klingons standing in for the Nazis, all in the background of a resistance struggle. And in case you didn’t get it, Uhura actually says “of all the gin joints,” plus they even redid the classic scene when the café patrons drown out the Germans with a patriotic song. But for many of the trappings of film noir, the episode didn’t deliver on the themes it usually evokes, with just a taste of the classic moral ambiguity that is the driving force of the genre. DS9’s “In the Pale Moonlight” and maybe even Voyager’s “The Killing Game” are better entries, without the black and white.

The saving grace of last week’s episode was that for all its frivolity, it was actually funny, delivering on the stoner comedy premise. That can only be said at the surface level of this attempt at noir.

As for the B-story on the Enterprise, there were some fun moments, like seeing how Ortegas and Scotty are now Cuban sandwich bonding buddies, and it does feel like Spock has really taken that pivot to logic, showing how these characters are changing and picking up on previous episodes. As for La’an, it’s unclear where the show is going with her but with the noir style, this was an opportunity to lean into a hardboiled detective plot, but the ship story just felt like standard Strange New Worlds, not taking advantage of the black and white environment.

It was nice to see how Pike indicated he knew she was keeping secrets from him, but again the genre calls for something grittier, the exposure of corruption, the exploration of societal issues being swept aside by the Federation. Strange New Worlds has dived deep into this area before (like when Una was put on trial), but this episode barely skims this surface.

‘Again with the Klingons’ may be a trope, but in fact, it’s quite welcome. They may be the ubiquitous baddies (turned more nuanced allies) of the franchise, but there are still many mysteries. How the Empire manages things with local populations was a fascinating aspect of this episode and a welcome addition to the canon. Putting Kor in charge had potential, but the characterization of him here didn’t really gel with the menace of his first appearance in TOS or his later appearance as old friend of Curzon Dax in DS9.

While the Klingons of this era are certainly good stand-ins for the villains in Casablanca in space, there was an opportunity here to use them for modern allegory. It may be six decades since the Cold War, but wasn’t there an opportunity here to create a more direct allegory to modern conflicts and even proxy wars, or even dip into a commentary on domestic issues with resisting overly oppressive enforcement?

Final thoughts

This fourth entry had its fair share of fun moments, cool elements, and the whole wow factor of being a franchise first in terms of format style. Still, it was a missed opportunity to be much more, something this series with only twelve more episodes to go can hardly afford."

Anthony Pascale (TrekMovie.com)

Full review:

https://trekmovie.com/2026/08/13/recap-review-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-obscures-shades-of-gray-in-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

Link (TrekMovie):

https://trekmovie.com/2026/08/17/preview-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-puppet-episode-with-13-new-photos-from-level-five-transporter-accident/

SCREENRANT: "Appearing on The 7th Rule with Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk, Brannon Braga helped wrap up the hit podcast's 3-year journey reviewing every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Braga looked back at the busy timeframe of when TNG ended, when the movies were being produced, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was in full swing, and Star Trek: Voyager was being developed. Brannon then shared his belief that TNG had "another 3 years, easy" and could have gone 10 seasons. Read his quote below:

>Brannon Braga: “In my mind, TNG never ended. I mean, it was taken off the air at the height of its popularity. It had another 3 years, easy.”

Answering Cirroc Lofton's follow-up question about why it was decided that 7 seasons was the cutoff for Star Trek series, Braga noted the rising costs of producing a Star Trek series for so many years, and that, at the time, 7 seasons guaranteed re-airing in syndication in perpetuity (before the rise of streaming changed television). [...]"

Full article:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-brannon-braga-tng-3-more-years/

Full interview (The 7th Rule):

"Closing the Book on Star Trek The Next Generation"

https://youtu.be/XvsPNPCgSmo?si=AizY5Gq-1UDgyCYk

Keith R.A. DeCandido (REACTOR):

"On the face of it, this would appear to be yet another gimmick episode. And if you saw previews, and saw that this was all in black in white and had the characters all looking like they stepped out of a Humphrey Bogart movie, you would be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be another goof-fest.

And hoo-hah, would you be wrong. Gimmicks notwithstanding, this is a superlative episode of SNW, one that is a great (and long fucking overdue) spotlight for Number One, a good continuation of La’an’s issues, a nice use of M’Benga’s established past, and also a very strong Trek storyline.

https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

Yes, I used the plural in the second sentence of the previous paragraph, as the black-and-white palette and the general noir vibe is only one of four gimmicks in this one. Despite every single one of them, I will continue to think of this as one of SNW’s best episodes, for a variety of reasons. [...]

Olusanmokun handles M’Benga’s ad hoc role as a mentor beautifully, providing calmly given rational advice without ever being condescending or didactic or snotty. It’s a superb performance.

So is Celia Rose Gooding’s. You see that she’s still young and learning, but you also see the seeds of the woman who will defy Khan magnificently and lock “Mr. Adventure” in the closet. In particular, she manages to gain intelligence thanks to her linguistic skills, hearing Kor and his subordinates converse in a Klingon dialect that they didn’t expect she would know.

Ultimately, this is Number One’s episode, and both character and actor shine magnificently given this way overdue spotlight. I said back when SNW was announced in 2020 that this needed to be Number One’s show, because we already know what happens to Pike and Spock. To quote myself, “the sky’s the limit with Number One. So let’s see all of that sky, please!”

That has very much not been the case, as the show has instead chosen to use the fact that we know what happens to Pike and Spock as story fodder. This is fine as far as it goes, but it’s also served to marginalize Number One. It’s maddening, because she was one of the most interesting aspects of “The Cage” (where she was played by the late great Majel Barrett), and the glimpses we got of her in Discovery’s second season and in the Short Treks “Q & A” and “Ask Not” (played by Romijn) were superlative. And on this show, when she does get a focus, it’s fabulous, especially her biggest spotlight, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” SNW’s best episode, and a top-20 (if not top-10) Trek episode generally. (Possibly not a coincidence that Horgan also was the writer of “Ad Astra…”)

So while giving her a star vehicle is, as I’ve said probably too much, way overdue, it’s also very welcome. Number One is brilliant in this, from her faking her way to being Navette to her conversations with Kor to her using her enhanced genetics to beat the crap out of the traitor in her midst, to the way she sets that traitor up both for a fall and to complete the resistance’s mission. Points also to the fight choreographers, as Number One disarms the aforementioned traitor in her midst perfectly—it’s exactly how you’re supposed to disarm someone holding a pistol on you. [...]

I didn’t entirely buy that Kor just let Uhura go when he did after putting her through the mind-scanner.

Still, this is a really good spotlight for a character who deserves more of them, a strong look at the difficulties and realities of undercover work, and a really good resist-the-fascists storyline, which is a story type that is always welcome."

Keith R.A. DeCandido (Reactor.com)

Full article:

https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-a-case-of-chiaroscuro/

DEN OF GEEK:

"Unfortunately, the episode’s B-plot is hands down the season’s weakest, involving an increasingly paranoid La’an insisting that some sort of sabotage has been performed on the probe they’ve just retrieved. Her investigation to discover what, if anything, has been slipped into its code. After what feels like an interminable amount of red herrings, it turns out it was just Chapel trying to protect a Federation medical ship which crossed the line of demarcation in order to answer a distress call.

It’s thematically similar, in that this story too is about breaking the rules to help those that need it, but it’s both dull and pointless. Despite the visuals of this episode, the choices we face in life are very rarely black and white. But that’s hardly a lesson that La’an, of all people, needs to learn. [...]

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-episode-4-review-a-case-of-chiaroscuro

The hour is an intriguing twist on what is essentially a real-life holodeck episode, which allows Rebecca Romijn to do something a bit more substantial than sing Bonnie Tyler bangers in Klingon. (Which, admittedly? She is great at.)

A noir-flavored thriller about resisting fascism, “A Case of Chiaroscuro” is shot entirely in black and white, and is not, as most of us likely assumed, a gimmick spurred on by someone playing Dick Tracy during their downtime. Instead, it involves a covert shuttle mission to retrieve a broken Federation probe that’s drifted into Klingon space, in a system dominated by a star whose radiation impacts the way we perceive color, rendering everything in greyscale.

It’s both disorienting and strangely beautiful, as well as a reminder of how many weirdo pockets of space exist in our wide universe that this franchise has still (somehow) yet to explore. But although their initial task is successful, the unexpected arrival of a Klingon ship near their position means Una, M’Benga, and Uhura must detour to a nearby planet to hide, since, y’know, they’re not supposed to be there and all.

Mat’aar XII is a Klingon-occupied planet, and its general vibe is sort of Sin City meets Casablanca. There are lots of fedoras, some truly banging outerwear, and Klingon collaborators whose outfits are marked with silver cuffs. [...] It’s true, “A Case of Chiaroscuro’s” basic premise requires a fairly healthy suspension of disbelief. That Una somehow accidentally stumbles upon the one planet where her exact doppelganger happens to live is…almost laughably convenient. (Much like the fact that doppelgangers exist at all.) But it’s not any weirder than the idea that the Enterprise is technically responsible for creating the asteroid belt in our solar system, is it? Of course not.

That Una also happens to be extremely good at pretending to be someone she isn’t is the kind of thing that makes sense for her character, and even if much of her success here is due more to pure luck and bravado than skill, well. You have to admire her moxy, as well as her willingness to risk it all to protect her team and, later, to strike a blow for the resistance itself.

It’s another stark reminder that she’s never truly gotten over her family’s decision to refuse to fight alongside their fellow Illyrians rather than to pass as human when the Federation came to her colony all those years ago. (And, given how little her perception of this issue seems to have changed since the last time her heritage was a plot point, it seems unlikely that she ever will.) [...]

The idea of supporting an insurgency against some form of tyrannical oppressor is a story that Star Trek has told many times over, but was especially prevalent during The Original Series. [...] But as Una and friends leave Mat’aar behind and color bleeds back into the frame, there’s at least a sense of hope that they might have changed something on this planet, if nothing else."

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Lacy Baugher (DenofGeek.com)

Full review:

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-episode-4-review-a-case-of-chiaroscuro