The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail

For me, this is the best episode since Season 1's A Quality of Mercy, and the only episode of Season 3 I've felt compelled to watch twice. Simply put, this felt like Star Trek - a fun, multilayered adventure with a clever twist and a timely reminder that we're not so different from our enemies.

Interestingly, my two favourite Strange New Worlds episodes so far both feature Kirk, even though I'd much rather the writers focus on Pike, Una, and the crew. I don't mind the slow build of Kirk's world, but it shouldn't come at the expense of Pike and Una, who seem noticeably under-utilised this season.

I'm still not a huge fan of Pelia, but her rummaging through antiques and rewiring the Enterprise had the charm of the quirky, lighthearted moments we used to see in The Next Generation.

The resolution to this week's problem (and the episode's title) was once again a little unsatisfying - it prompted a "wait, what?" and rewind moment just to decipher what had happened. Kirk also went from being lost to suddenly having all the answers in a manner that felt unearned. And what was with the enemy ship's jaws and teeth? Still, these were minor missteps in what was otherwise a great episode.

I imagine writing Strange New Worlds isn't easy, with the constraints of canon, timelines, and the sheer number of prior plots - not to mention the harshness of a vocal minority who, somewhat ironically, seem to keep their phasers permanently set to kill. But when the show remembers its roots - hopeful, character-driven science fiction - it really shines. More of this, and less gimmickry, please.

After watching the previous episode which was good, but then this one was far the best out of all the episodes in this season.

Kept me at the edge of my seat.

And Kirk comes into the picture how he came to be. Eeally good one! Won't give out any spoilers for this you just have to watch it.

Good directing! Good script!

Keep it up!

Overall a very good episode. There's a lot to like. Pivotal moments. Important recognition of what mercy means. And the beginning of the most important relationship in ST.

What I liked:

Spock acting like Spock.

A Doomsday Machine knock-off.

A coherent story.

No soap opera romance featured.

The original crew (minus a few) together.

Great forerunner interaction of cast.

Great effects, as usual.

An intriguing mystery with a tragic answer.

The design of the scavenger ship was a bit much, I mean why the jaws and teeth? Reminded me of the alien behemoths from The Avengers. Minor quibble.

Although Kirk's getting flustered and walking off the bridge was out of character, I understood what the writer was trying to create. It led to an iconic Kirk-Spock dialogue. All that was missing was Bones chipping in with snarky Vulcan insults.

There were opportunities to write that scene in ways that would accomplish the desired result, point out Kirk's need for growth, and come up with a solution, without making James T look immature. I guess we can't have it all.

The TOS reunion (pre-union?) of Chapel, Uhura, Scott, Spock and Kirk was a great idea. Scotty and Chapel discussing ways to remove Kirk seemed wrong, but Uhura showed loyalty and Spock adopted his role of Kirk's #1.

When Pelia comic relief is inserted I just roll my eyes. Neelix anyone? Ah, no big deal.

It's two better eps in a row.

I was super happy to have an episode that really feels like Star Trek. We had an actual adventure! They also managed to still have the Strange New Worlds quirkiness in there too, so I'd vote this episode as one of their best efforts. Fingers crossed that they can hold this course for the remainder of the season. It's been a rocky road, but now I've got some hope.

An episode like this was needed. Not that S3 has been bad, actually the contrary and that's my point. They needed an episode as fantastic as this to really put a spotlight on how absolutely embarrassing it must be for the haters of this show to whine week in and week out. The very first user review on here of this weeks episode was a 3/10 whining about Paul Wesley as Kirk.

Just admit you don't actually watch the show and spare us having to weed through your objective lies and culture war nonsense.

The Sehlat that Ate It's Tail tells the story of Kirk's first big mission in a captain's chair and cleverly gives all his future TOS friends something to do alongside him. Wesley is fantastic in the episode, the special effects and dread level of this weeks alien problem are absolutely top notch. Spock felt the most like Spock he's ever felt in this series. The character work earns every single beat, and everyone has something interesting to do. This episode was so good I'm shocked that it was only the 6th episode. It has "season finale" levels of suspense oozing from every level of its production, and the ending is very Trekkian and has something important to say about the human condition.

If they thought an episode was a better one to end the season than this, I can't wait to see how the rest of the season unfolds. Easily a top episode of SNW.