In Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S2 – EP10) – Hegemony

Synopsis: In Hegemony, the Enterprise investigates an attack on a colony at the edge of Federation space, Captain Pike and the crew face the return of a formidable enemy.

The Story

When the Gorn launch an attack on a colony that is seeking membership in The Federation. Captain Pike and the crew of the Enterprise rush to the rescue in order to try and save the lives of the human colonists as well as Captain Batel who was negotiating with them. As the Enterprise arrives they are given orders direct from Starfleet to not cross an agreed-upon zone that the Gorn has told Starfleet not to cross. Knowing that lives could still be on the line. Pike and his crew hatch a plan for a covert mission that sees them sneaking onto the planet by hiding in plain site via way of a retrofitted shuttle that is made to look like debris from Captain Batel’s destroyed ship.

As Pike and his team arrive on the planet they find a small group of human survivors and meet up with Lieutenant Mongomery Scott who has come up with a few engineering hacks to help avoid The Gorn Hegemony.

The Acting

Anson Mount leads the way in this episode as we see a very motivated Captain Pike launch into a mission to save his significant other Captain Batel. Equally motivated, but not as obviously so is Ethan Peck’s Spock who is looking to hopefully save the life of Christine Chapel who transferred over to Captain Batel’s ship after her break up with him. In short, pretty much most characters on the Enterprise are taking this Gorn attack kind of personally and intensely dislike Starfleet’s standing orders to strand survivors on the colony and leave them at the mercy of the Gorn.

This episode introduces us to the younger version of Montgomery Scott aka Scotty, who we know will be the future chief engineer of the Enterprise. Scotty is brilliantly played by Martin Quinn who plays a pivotal role in this story. Toward the end of the episode, we learn that Scotty was one of Pelia’s best engineering students, but unfortunately not an A – Student. Also, worth noting is that Quinn is actually Scottish so has absolutely no issues with the accent. Whereas, the late James Doohan who originated the character was Canadian and put on the accent.

Overall

Overall Hegemony is a solid season finale that leaves us with an impactful cliffhanger that will keep fans guessing for an entire year. As Pike and his away team get back to the Enterprise with Batel who has been used by the Gorn as an incubator for their younglings. Ortegas gets left behind on the planet with the rest of the human survivors who are promptly beamed away by the Gorn. The cliffhanger asks whether Pike will adhere to Starfleet orders and head back to Starfleet Command or will he order Enterprise to pursue the Gorn and try and rescue Ortegas and the other humans from the cold-blooded reptilian race. 

Overall a fun episode with some great individual acting performances from the cast.