In Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S4 – EP8) Orders of Magnitude

Synopsis: In Orders of Magnitude, a Starfleet Admiral commandeers the Enterprise for an alien pursuit that grows far beyond its original orders.

The Story

“Orders of Magnitude” is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ attempt at paying homage to the classic Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington movie Crimson Tide, although there are a few issues with that comparison that we’ll get to later.

The story kicks off with Pike and most of his senior command crew investigating a distress call on a planet. Lieutenant Commander Kirk has chosen this particular moment to visit the Enterprise for a medical examination with Dr. M’Benga, who gently points out that he could have had the check-up aboard the Farragut. However, Kirk needs to be on the Enterprise for the plot to develop.

At this point, Admiral Simon Reeger beams aboard, commandeers the Enterprise and appoints Kirk as his first officer. Their mission is to pursue a cloaked ship responsible for the deaths of five million people, including Reeger’s wife and child. Reeger has figured out a way to track the ship and orders the Enterprise crew to hunt it down, but things quickly escalate when Jim Kirk begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable with some of the admiral’s orders.

Meanwhile, back on the planet, Pike, Una, Chapel, Cadet A’sha and Uhura discover that the distress signal was a trap and are captured by a group of Andorian pirates.

Acting

Eureka’s Joe Morton delivers a fantastic performance as Admiral Reeger, who gradually unravels as the episode progresses. Paul Wesley also puts in a fairly decent turn as Kirk, and his scenes with Morton really bring the tension—except for the moment when Reeger demands the ship’s phaser codes, which comes dangerously close to parodying Crimson Tide rather than paying homage to it.

Celia Rose Gooding also delivers a solid performance as Uhura and shows us a little of the character she will eventually become in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Overall

While “Orders of Magnitude” was entertaining and clearly aimed for the kind of tension and drama seen in classic episodes such as “Balance of Terror,” it wasn’t without its issues. First, I felt the mystery surrounding Joe Morton’s Admiral Reeger was reaching a little. The backstory about George Kirk falling on his sword to save the admiral’s career felt somewhat problematic.

Additionally, I thought the Enterprise crew took a little too long to turn against Reeger when it was becoming damn obvious that his commands were not following Starfleet procedures. The B-plot felt unnecessary and a little convoluted, serving mainly as a means of getting Pike out of the way so that they could do a Kirk episode.

I’m also not sure about Uhura receiving a battlefield promotion, given that Starfleet wasn’t at war with anyone. Why not just give her a normal promotion?