In Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S3 – EP6) The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail

Synopsis: In The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail, Kirk’s first day as captain takes a disastrous turn when a scavenger ship seizes the Enterprise.

The Story

When the USS Farragut attempts a planetary survey on a newly charted world, the ship winds up dead in space after a massive alien vessel consumes the planet — and everything on it. This leaves Lieutenant Commander James T. Kirk in the role of acting captain.

The Enterprise is dispatched to assist, but no sooner do they arrive than they too are attacked and taken by the alien ship. Watching the Enterprise vanish, Kirk takes command of the Farragut and tries to devise a rescue plan. However, when he ignores Scotty’s advice about not pushing the Farragut’s engines too far, the plan fails — leaving Kirk with a crisis of confidence.

Sensing that Kirk needs a more logical perspective, Spock steps in as second-in-command and encourages him to keep trusting his human instincts. Kirk recalls an anecdote from his mother about a dog chasing cars, which Spock relates to a Vulcan proverb about “the Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.” Inspired by Spock’s counsel, Kirk regains his confidence, ultimately managing to save both the Farragut and the Enterprise — though at a great cost.

Meanwhile, aboard the captured Enterprise, Pike and La’an fend off an alien boarding party. When they discover that phaser stun settings are ineffective, they reluctantly switch to kill. Elsewhere, Pelia puts her knowledge of 1980s Earth technology to work, jury-rigging a small telephone network to restore communications for the crew.

Acting

Paul Wesley returns as the younger Kirk, delivering another passable performance — elevated by strong supporting turns from the rest of the cast. The scene in which Kirk is counselled by Spock (Ethan Peck) serves as a nice bit of foreshadowing for the legendary friendship we know from the original Star Trek series. Martin Quinn once again shines as the younger Scotty, earning his stripes with some classic, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants engineering. Carol Kane is also a delight as Pelia, offering a quirky yet clever solution to the ship’s communications problem.

Overall

This was a fairly strong episode that leaned into the disaster genre, with both the Enterprise and the Farragut left crippled and adrift in space. It provides an excellent test of Kirk’s command abilities, teaching the cocky acting captain a few hard lessons in humility and the importance of delegating to his crew. The setup of the alien vessel — a legendary menace spoken of across many spacefaring cultures — was a great touch, and the twist reveal about the aliens’ identity at the end landed well.