Here we are, back with another genre episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This week’s genre: fairy tale. Not what I want in my sci-fi show. At least this had (slightly) more action than the soap opera episode, but it also wasn’t as funny. I also found it weird that we went from a regular Star Trek episode to a genre episode. Next week will be the season finale… hopefully it’s a traditional science fiction episode.
La’An opens season four, episode nine, “Once La’An a Time.” Pike, La’An, Spock, Ortegas, and Uhura are all coming back from representing Starfleet at a dignitary’s wedding. They’re all wearing their dress uniforms except La’An. Something’s clearly going on, but La’An keeps insisting she’s fine. Ortegas suggests Pike check in with her.
Pike finds La’An beating up a punching bag and asks if they can talk. People are concerned about her recent behavior, especially at the wedding. La’An is convinced the Orion dignitary was a spy and she prevented an incident and saved a marriage, but Pike points out that she also put the groom in the cake and set the bride’s dress on fire, which might have been going a little too far. He suggests they get a second opinion, so they head to sickbay, where Dr. M’Benga clears her for duty. Pike asks if he has anything to treat acute grumpiness. “If I did, I’d have given it to you years ago,” Dr. M’Benga responds with a smile.
In the mission briefing, Spock presents a strange planet that “should not exist.” It’s round, flat, and moving through space on its own power, in defiance of physics. It also has signs of gravity, oxygen, and life. Unknown life. Pelia thinks it’s exciting; La’An thinks it’s dangerous.
So Pike, Spock, La’An, and Pelia transport down to the planet. They arrive in an area thickly covered in woods, with little glowing lightning bugs flying around and a castle in the distance. Pike is enchanted: “It’s like a storybook come to life.” He steps forward and sees a man who is a doppelgänger of Dr. M’Benga. The man stands and confronts the group with a sword, except La’An, whom he protects and calls Princess Thalia. Spock does a scan and realizes this isn’t Dr. M’Benga.
Pike places a call to the real Dr. M’Benga, who is still on the ship. That’s when we learn the conceit of this episode: it’s a throwback to season one, episode eight, “The Elysian Kingdom.” In that episode, a sentient nebula (akin to a Boltzmann brain) spontaneously created a fantasy world for Dr. M’Benga’s daughter, Rukiya, based on her favorite book, The Kingdom of Elysian. (In io9’s recap of “The Elysian Kingdom,” we also noted that it was just the most recent example of a long-running Star Trek tradition: “From the likes of “The Squire of Gothos” and “Qpid,” Star Trek loves to thrust its science fictional heroes into a fantasy setting so they can get their farce on.”)
So, basically, the landing party is back in a world based on The Kingdom of Elysian, except this time it’s for La’An. Dr. M’Benga speculates that La’An is dealing with difficult emotions, and this might be a way of working them out.
M’Benga recaps the characters for everyone: Pike played the coward, Sir Rauth. Spock played an evil wizard named Pollux. La’An was Princess Thalia, and Pelia hadn’t joined the crew yet so she didn’t have a role. (Though he doesn’t mention himself, M’Benga played King Ridley.)
Pike says they have to stay to find out why this planet, populated with their doppelgängers, is floating in space. Dr. M’Benga has no more answers for them, but sends Pike the book and some outfits.
La’An gets a princess gown, which she calls ridiculous and doesn’t want to wear. Pelia tries to talk her into it. Pike and Spock are dressed as their counterparts, with Pike going over his character now that he has the book. Suddenly, some cavalrymen appear, and they’re confused about how Princess Thalia has escaped the dungeon where she’s being held. The cavalrymen want to take them to the queen, who’s obsessed with some sort of “prophecy.”
We cut to the castle, where Queen Neve is a doppelgänger of Uhura, and her handmaiden Lady Audrey is Chapel’s doppelgänger. “Whoever wants to control the Elysian Kingdom must gain control of the Iron Dragon,” she reads from the prophecy. The Iron Dragon is the Enterprise.
Back in the woods, La’An is still mad about the dress when one of the cavalrymen starts laughing at her, so she kicks the crap out of him. She turns to the second dude when a third guy swings in on a vine (?!) to help. He pulls off his mask and reveals himself to be a doppelgänger of James Kirk—or in this reality, he is Prince Dashing, who was not in the book.
Prince Dashing clearly recognizes Princess Thalia, but La’An has no idea who he is. She covers it up by claiming Queen Neve stole her memories. Prince Dashing says he’s been trying to break Princess Thalia out of the dungeon for months, and he was out in the woods looking for a key to free her. That’s irrelevant now, though, because she’s clearly escaped. There’s just one problem: Pike, Pelia, and Spock were hauled off to the dungeon, so La’An actually does need that key to get back there and rescue them.
La’An tells Prince Dashing that Neve stored her memories in a necklace, which is back in the dungeon. They’re going to have to find that key.
In the dungeon, Pike, Pelia, and Spock are they are worried about a low growl coming from the shadows… until a tiny dog comes running out. Pike picks up the pup lovingly, when the real Princess Thalia runs out, demanding her dog, Runa, back. She refuses to help Pike and Spock, and takes her dog back into the shadows. “Our doppelgangers are quite reviled,” Spock comments. Pike wants to know where they are.
The real Rauth and Pollux are out strolling in the woods, and they find Pike and Spock’s uniforms there. Rauth opens the strange “clam” and gets a radio transmission from the Enterprise, asking if they’re ready for a transport back. Rauth agrees to the transport, and Pollux calls it sorcery when they are transported back to the ship.
Once there, the tech who transported them back is worried about them, though Rauth is pleased he is called “captain.” Pollux casts a spell that freezes the tech in place. They are stunned to learn that the Iron Dragon is a ship, and figure out that they must be “shadow people” of the people on the ship.
Pollux casts a spell to change their clothes, then comments that he must ration his magic if he can’t get to the Crystal of Death to replenish his aura. Rauth wants to get back to what is important: that the crew thinks he is the captain of the Iron Dragon, and he plans on taking over.
Back on the planet, Pike, Spock, and Pelia have been brought before Queen Neve, who recognizes them from the The Kingdom of Elysian. When King Ridley insults the queen, she turns him into a painting on the wall with a snap of her fingers. Pike speaks up, but Queen Neve silences them all with insults. Lady Audrey realizes they’re all just pretending to be characters from the book, and Pike finally admits that they’re from the Iron Dragon, but they don’t want to hurt anyone.
Pike introduces himself and Spock, but when it comes to Pelia, he introduces her as Benny Russell, the author of The Kingdom of Elysian. Queen Neve is shocked, but then declares Pelia will write a new volume where she controls the Iron Dragon. Neve snaps her fingers and sends Pike and Spock into paintings, which leaves Pelia free to write.
In the forest, La’An and Prince Dashing are walking together and she questions why he loves Thalia so much. “You are the only one who has ever seen and loved the real me,” Dashing enthuses. La’An is uncomfortable—until Sir Adya, a doppelgänger of Ortegas, steps out of the woods. La’An explains what they are doing, including her fake crying at the end to sell it. Sir Adya is worried that she can’t even remember Runa, and joins them on their quest. She no longer has the key—they must go to the Swamp of Infinite Death to find it.
On the ship, Rauth and Pollux are trying to blend in. Rauth doesn’t do a good job when they run into Ortegas, and he loses his mind when he sees Uhura. Dr. M’Benga, who is with her, suggests they come into sickbay with him. Pollux throws up a spell, then collapses against Rauth, complaining his magic is waning. He requests to see the captain’s quarters.
In the swamp, La’An is asked about the story of the necklace. La’An can only come up with “it’s an heirloom.” After she gets some confused looks from her companions, she continues. It was a gift from her father after her first dance recital. She was so nervous, but he said she danced like a princess and she wore the necklace every day. She’s never told anyone before. Prince Dashing is concerned and swears they will find the necklace. Sir Adya makes a flippant remark about there being a full moon, which makes Prince Dashing nervous. He pretends to hear growling, and declares it couldn’t be anything other than a werewolf. He will stay back and slay it with his silver sword, and sends Sir Adya and La’An on their way.
In the castle, Pelia is too distracted by delicious scones to worry about writing. Lady Audrey approaches with a book, claiming they are missing one key ingredient: “The fire shall burn from within when the light meets the shadow.” She points out that everyone from the Enterprise is from the shadow world. Neve holds up the book and points to an image, which Pelia thinks is La’An. Lady Audrey is excited: they have the light, Princess Thalia, rotting in the dungeon. Now all they need to find is the shadow.
Which sends us back to the swamp, where La’An and Sir Adya have come across a cabin. Ignoring the Evil Dead vibes, they enter. Sir Adya warns that the werewolf is coming; they need to arm themselves, so Adya pushes a huge cabinet in front of the door. The werewolf is prowling about, but then there are arrows through the wall. La’An thinks it might be Prince Dashing, but it’s not. Sir Adya whines that “she” always has to steal her thunder as the unknown person calls out “little pig.”
Sir Adya opens the door, and reveals Z’ymira, Chin-Riley’s doppelgänger, the former girlfriend of Sir Adya. La’An runs through her necklace story quickly. Z’ymira reveals the key. Prince Dashing returns and announces the queen’s Crimson Guard coming. Z’ymira hands over the key to La’An and wishes them luck. Sir Adya and Z’ymira kiss and head out to fight the Crimson Guard.
Rauth and Pollux are in the captain’s quarters, having done their hair like their doppelgängers, and begin practicing their speech. They then take off, heading down the hallway with a jaunt in their step. Rauth spots the galley and decides to stop for a drink, and Pollux joins him.
Prince Dashing and La’An sneak into the castle, where Prince Dashing tells her that the queen throws a ball every week and they have to change into appropriate clothing. When La’An puts on her new dress, she says she feels like a child dressed in a huge princess gown. Even still, Prince Dashing is taken with her. La’An admits she hasn’t felt this side of herself in a long time; there is a darkness in her, and she fears it is who she really is. Prince Dashing accepts her for who she really is.
In the ballroom, Prince Dashing decides the only way to cross the room undetected is to dance. They begin to dance, but he suddenly doubles over in pain. Neve comes out, saying she made the full moon come again. Prince Dashing falls to the floor and rises as a werewolf.
Neve snaps her fingers and sends Prince Dashing into a painting. Suddenly Princess Thalia rushes out, grieving for her prince. La’An finally understands: she knew that he was a werewolf and accepted him.
Neve circles La’An and Thalia. This is the solution to her problem: she needs the light and the shadow together. She snaps her fingers, which causes the light and the shadow to suck out of La’An and Thalia and mix in a cauldron. Neve drinks the concoction. Her eyes turn red, and she says the only way to conquer a dragon is to become one. With that, she shapeshifts into a big, red dragon.
La’An and Thalia are passed out on the floor when Runa runs in and wakes them. Well, she wakes La’An, who promises to get Prince Dashing and all the others out of their painting prisons. Thalia wakes up and is furious that La’An has her puppy. Thalia doesn’t know what’s happening but she knows it’s all La’An’s fault. The two begin to fight. Thalia feels angry, like La’An, and La’An feels sad, like Thalia.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Enterprise, Chin-Riley is concerned that there is a large heat signature coming right for them. Ortegas puts it on the screen as Rauth sinks into the captain’s chair. Neve as a giant dragon is flying right towards them. The ship fires on the dragon, and Ortegas warns that the dragon didn’t take any damage. “The dragon needs to see the ground to steady its flight,” Rauth mumbles. “Flying amongst the stars would cause them great difficulty.” He sits up and demands erratic, evasive maneuvers, and orders them to keep firing. The dragon breathes a line of fire on the Enterprise.
La’An tells Thalia she is not going to fight her anymore. “Do you feel all this love and emotion all the time?” La’An asks. Thalia nods, then asks if La’An feels angry and ready to kill all the time. La’An nods. She suggests that if they stop fighting themselves, they could become more than their parts. Thalia suggests they drink from the potion: it contains both light and shadow, and will put them back in balance.
On the bridge, Chin-Riley wants to know what Pike wants to do. Weapons aren’t hurting the dragon. Rauth turns to Pollux and suggests a “cosmic blast”—he’s talking about casting a spell while the rest of the crew looks on, bewildered. Pollux warns that it will drain him and they’ll lose their cover. Rauth, finally gaining some courage, says that if they go down, they will go down fighting.
La’An and Thalia drink the potion.
Rauth commands Pollux to cast a spell. He does and the dragon is blasted back by a wave of blue magic. The dragon returns to human form, and is floating in space. Chin-Riley commands Neve be sent to the brig, and Rauth and Pollux be sent back to the planet, where they have some things to “finish up.”
Prince Dashing comes out of the painting, as a human, and greets Thalia, who says she had the most bizarre dream. She fought herself. Dashing inquires who won. “We both did!” she exclaims. La’An is watching from far away, and Pike, out of the painting, tells her it’s time to go.
Back on the ship, in sickbay, Dr. M’Benga again announces La’An is cleared for duty, though she does have a strange look on her face: a smile. Pike explains that the “planet” was actually a ship. Pelia is staying behind to study its engineering and fly it home. But Dr. M’Benga says she has hooked up with Max, the queen’s cook. Is this the last we’ll see of Pelia?
La’An visits Uhura and is surprised to find Runa there. Thalia wants La’An to take care of her, since Prince Dashing is allergic. Uhura notices that La’An seems different. La’An smiles. She gained something else, too.
La’An goes to the transport bay, closely followed by Runa. She moves the puppy off the transporter and tells her to stay. She transports out of there, while a voiceover sums up her big self-awakening. When La’An transports back to the ship, she finds Runa waiting for her, exactly where she left her.
La’An takes her necklace out of her jewelry box as the voiceover continues: the necklace was a painful reminder of losing her father, but he was a happy person. Lately she’s been wondering if she could be happy, too. It turns out that La’An is saying all this to Kirk, on a date with him. He admits he’s nervous. She says she wants to start over, and they get up and dance. We know it’s not going to last, since the final episode of Strange New Worlds (which is only seven episodes away, thanks to season five’s truncated length) will lead right into the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
So they all live happily ever after… for now. And La’An has a puppy! Which means we get a puppy for the rest of the season… which is only one more episode. Sigh.
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrive on Thursdays on Paramount+.
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Source: Gizmodo