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A serial killer becomes trapped in a time loop at a cafe.

It's tough to make a movie with a serial killer as your protagonist. Most of the time, they end up being pretty black horror comedies or rather disturbing indie dramas. I guess there's also the Dexter-style vigilante, but that's pretty rare. This one takes more of the horror comedy route, though it's got a fair bit of slasher in it, too.

Brendan Fehr plays the serial killer. He's best during the more comedic moments, I think, and he does a fair job of being a slasher villain, too. However, Fehr and director Keith Jardine fail to imbue him with the charisma and presence of the greats. There's a scene inspired by The Hitcher where this becomes apparent. That said, it's tough to top Rutger Hauer, and it was fun to see them homage it without directly ripping it off.

The violence is sometimes played for laughs and sometimes played more straight. The black comedy moments helped to lighten the mood a bit and showed more creativity. A routine in the middle involving the fry cook, played by Tait Fletcher, was probably my favorite. Not only was it amusing, it also let some of the characters get their revenge on the serial killer, which was a bit cathartic, too.

The problem is that these moments don't really advance the plot, and you're left wondering when exactly that's going to happen. As time goes on, Fehr becomes increasingly disturbed by his predicament, which I thought was once again not done as well as the comedic parts. When the climax comes around and reveals what's been going on, it's a bit heavy-handed and perhaps a bit silly, but it works.

Majandra Delfino, who plays the other major role in the movie, is good. In any other movie, I suspect she'd have been the lead. If you're a fan of her or Fehr, it surely can't hurt to check this out. Horror fans may also enjoy the premise. If you don't fit into any of those categories, it might be a tough sell.

The crew of the Enterprise encounter aliens that are pure evil and has to stop their evil plans.

This episode pretty much completes the season 3 trajectory that transforms Strange New Worlds from a science fiction show into a fantasy show with some science fiction elements.

Early 20th century science fiction authors, such as H. P. Lovecraft, freely mixed science fiction and fantasy elements to a degree that is often not allowed today by genre purists. Lovecraft was a materialist who was intrigued by legend and mythology, and his stories often tried to come up with plausible ways to integrate witches, zombies, and evil gods into the modern world.

This story does a similar thing, but it's done in such a poor way that it feels like it's actually doing the reverse: trying to justify the inclusion of starships and scientists in a fantasy story. When done well, that can also be interesting, though I find it significantly less interesting than the reverse. When it's presented as science fiction, it's actually kind of insulting if you're a skeptic.

If you pay attention to the babbling of the characters, they do give some semi-reasonable explanations for what's going on, using the usual Star Trek technobabble. I dislike how it's presented, though, as if these Starfleet officers have suddenly turned into fans of astrology and homeopathy.

If you like the characters, though, you can follow them through the bad dialogue. It's certainly watchable, but I'm not sure if I'll miss Paramount+ once it eventually comes time to assess which subscriptions to renew.

Ortegas does some Ortegas stuff that results in her being stranded on a planet. There, she has to cooperate with a gorn to survive.

I like Ortegas, but the writers sometimes make her harder to like than necessary. Here, she gets a chance to shine. Unfortunately, the writers make her speak her every thought aloud, which is weird and distracting. Extroverts speak aloud to organize their thoughts, but they don't narrate to an invisible audience.

The plot itself isn't bad, but the entire premise is a shameless rip off of the 1980s science fiction movie Enemy Mine. If you can get past that, some parts are pretty cool. Ortegas's jury-rigging skills prove impressive, and her improvised translator is a subtly amusing touch. After several episodes that were a bit cringeworthy, it's nice to see Strange New Worlds do something a bit more subtle.

This is probably the most science fiction-oriented episode of the season, but that's not saying much.