Shows like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds often use creative measures to bring the extraordinary to life. Sometimes it will be more supernatural elements, like a ship’s host mind-controlling spirits (season 4 episode 2: "The Griffin Incident"), or it will lean into science fiction, like a commanding officer traveling to the past/alternate realities to meet their past selves (season 1 episode 10: "A Quality of Mercy"). And then there are times like in this episode when all you can do is watch and smile as the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise is turned into puppets.
In writing my preview for this episode, I noted that “Level-Five Transporter Accident” would likely have nonsense throughout. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t completely right. Because while there were shenanigans, there were more than a few times when real-life problems hit the crew of the Enterprise. And that's what Star Trek is all about.
First of all, Spock is left to do everything. Knowing Spock, this was something I assumed he would be able to handle; He’s responsible and always seems to know the right thing to do. Nevertheless, in this episode we learn that even Spock is susceptible to being overwhelmed with emotions and having an anxiety attack.
Some of this episode's other standout moments came when La'an Noonien-Singh was excited when she realized she was still a puppet after Scotty’s attempt to return her to her organic form. It seemed weird that she’d be happy to still be made of felt and cotton until she revealed something sad: La’an says that if she isn’t human, she can’t become the monster she feels she’s destined to become.
In life, we have people who always seem to know the right thing to say and do and never stress. Meanwhile, we don’t really know what they’re going through unless they open up to us. The realization of this in "Level-Five Transporter Accident" reminded me of the phrase, “Check in on your strong friends.” And when it comes to strength, Spock and La’an are among the strongest. However, as we see, everyone has their breaking points, insecurities, and worries about the future.
Stardate 04.05 review
This was quite the adventure from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We knew it would be and it didn't disappoint in that sense. We got absolutely outrageous shenanigans in which the crew got turned into puppets, and we also got emotional, thought-provoking, and deep storytelling. This two-sides-of-the-coin approach is one that Star Trek does very, very well - and Strange New Worlds' approach is yet another wonderful example of that.
The one disappointing part of this episode is that the events of it didn’t really happen. Moments like Spock understanding La’an’s feelings and T'Pring learning to have emotions may never come into play again in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, my disappointment aside, this makes sense. A lot of fantastical things happen in this show (time travel, visiting alternate realities, etc.), but the crew turning into puppets and defeating the Orions may have been a bridge too far.
Overall, “Level-Five Transporter Accident” was another entertaining episode. It was incredibly silly, and I’d understand if it turned some fans off. But sometimes a break from the serious is needed. And with this marking the halfway point of the penultimate season, fans should expect more episodes with grave consequences moving forward. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow to see if that’s the case.
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