Wait, Dr. Chivers is real? Is Deidre Hall canonically part of the Star Trek Universe now? Talk about collective fever dreams.

I mean, if we’re going to keep any single trope from the soap opera trope, it’s going to be Marlena Flippin’ Evans, right?

But I’m also hugely here for a Trelane/Baby Q episode. So although Star Trek: Strange New Worlds leans hard on the cringe and lens Vaseline, let’s dive into what made this story work.

(John Medland/Paramount+) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass”

It’s been a hard season for Star Trek fans who have a really concrete idea in their mind of what Star Trek should look like.

The genre-bending has been wild. Dinosaurs and time travel. Puppets and shore leaves. Horror and film noir.

And yet, each narrative has served the overarching story of this crew.

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Not every style may be to your taste. I admit that I don’t have the stomach for the horror of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 2, “The Griffin Incident,” nor the medical trauma of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7, “Off-Hour.”

However, I cannot deny how well they’ve matched the tone and mood of each genre to the story’s purpose.

(Brendan Adam-Zwelling/Paramount+) Pike’s Perspective

By making Pike the focus and odd man out on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7, “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass,” they finally address an issue that was brought up on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 1, “Valles Marineris.”

In the season premiere, Una reminds him that since Marie’s ascension on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 10, “New Life and New Civilizations,” he’s done nothing but take on mission after mission.

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Yes, that leads into her recommending the crew get some shore leave, aka Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 3, “Human Best Friend,” but it also implies that Pike has been burying himself in work to avoid dealing with his feelings of loss.

“Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” deals with his repression head-on, with Dr. Chivers, the ship’s counselor, naming it and advising him that he won’t see it until he wants to.

(Christos Kalohoridis/Paramount+) Dr. Chivers

Considering the traumas this crew has endured, it’s been a huge oversight that there has never been a ship’s counselor before now.

But if you’re going to onboard one in the midst of a soap opera fever dream, who could be better than an actor who has been synonymous with the genre for 50 years?

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Deirdre Hall, as resplendent as ever, steps into Dr. Chivers shoes as smoothly as into the heightened version of herself she played on HBO‘s Hacks.

And the fact that she sticks around after Trelane vamooses fills me with joy, although I don’t expect we’ll see her again.

(Brendan Adam-Zwelling/Paramount+) You Remember the Emotions

Similar to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9, “Subspace Rhapsody,” the infamous musical, the soap opera paradigm magnifies the characters’ feelings until they overpower any logic, ethics, or elements of reality that might still exist.

With Trelane’s project’s thesis being “Space adventures leave little time to deal with inner struggles,” several characters have their inner struggles externalized as part of his contrived scenario.

La’an transfers her longing for Spock onto the fictionalized version of his brother, Sybok.

Uhura seeks a parent, as she feels untethered in her role as a mentor.

M’Benga manifests his sense of disconnect as Space Madness.

(Christos Kalohoridis/Paramount+) Juliet

But this is primarily a Pike story.

Trelane may have set him up to be Uhura’s father figure, but his soap opera script unintentionally triggered his feelings of loss around the daughter he raised and loved in the illusory life he lived out with Marie.

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He resolves his repression by accepting that he still wishes for the life he lived.

For an illusory being, Juliet is incredibly well-spoken, and her reasoning fits perfectly with the entire soap opera framework.

Pike: Sometimes, I wish our life was the real one and not this other one I’m living.

Juliet: Just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it wasn’t real.

I think my favorite moment of “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” is Trelane’s Proctor giving in to the drama of the experiment and chowing down on popcorn as things unfold climactically.

(Brendan Adam-Zwelling/Paramount+) It’s a Snap

Rhys Darby is a delight. As Trelane, he embraces the thoughtless, godlike but childish omnipotence of a Q.

Because canonically, Trelane doesn’t get to properly introduce himself until Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1 Episode 17, “The Squire of Gothos,” when Kirk’s Enterprise runs into him; he never gets to tell Pike his name.

But we know. And with nine episodes left in the series, we can only pray the Continuum throws him back at us one more time before the final curtain.

(Marni GrossmanParamount+) Best Guests

And on that thought, Fanatics, who would you like to see return to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

Personally, I’d like to see an adventure involving the real Sybok. Bonus points if Angel comes too.

Vote for which guest character you’d want to see most in the poll below! Did I miss someone? Drop their name in the comments and argue for their return!

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