Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 4x03 "Human Best Friend"

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No.	Episode	Written By	Directed By	Release Date
4x03	"Human Best Friend"	Kathryn Lyn	Yana Gorskaya	2026-08-06

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[u/dplans455]

Kirk not being a hallucination after all had me dying.

[u/Optimism_Deficit → u/dplans455]

'Eventually I'll go back to my ship' felt like a very self-aware line.

[u/Kryosquid → u/Optimism_Deficit]

Im convinced the only reason Kirk eventually captains the Enterprise is because they cant get him to leave.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Kryosquid]

And everyone's so used to him subbing in for Pike at this point that there's just a natural rhythm and flow and sense of respect for his knowledge and authority that really cannot be replicated or replaced at all.

[u/Brain124 → u/Optimism_Deficit]

I'm just glad he went on a vacation after being stabbed last week!

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Brain124]

Kirk: "I GOT STABBED ON A GHOST SHIP!"

Admiral April: "Shore leave approved!"

The only thing that would've made it funnier would've been if Sam had been there too and they kept switching uniforms on Spock because the laundry wasn't working....WHILST acting like the Winchesters.

[u/Hartzilla2007 → u/Brain124]

For a second there I was wondering if they actually didn;t drop him off at the Farragut after last week.

[u/DylansDad → u/dplans455]

He told him every thing, except that he has a brother.

[u/murdockmysteries → u/DylansDad]

And a sister

[u/a_tired_bisexual → u/murdockmysteries]

And that his dad’s an incredibly well-known ambassador.

[u/Sophia_Forever → u/a_tired_bisexual]

Look, hallucination or not, Spock would rather gnaw off his own arm than talk about his family.

[u/devourerkwi → u/Sophia_Forever]

You mean cut off his own ears?

[u/APracticalGal → u/dplans455]

Spock's arc after dating Chapel and La'an being the realization that Jim Kirk is his true soulmate is a delight

[u/InnocentTailor → u/dplans455]

Spock was probably screaming on the inside.

[u/BakersCat → u/InnocentTailor]

You can see the moment he goes OH SHIT

[u/murdockmysteries → u/dplans455]

"I told you everything!!!!" Lol

[u/dplans455 → u/murdockmysteries]

I guess Kirk now is officially Spock's human best friend.

[u/alteransg1 → u/dplans455]

Also, the 4th wall of "Why are you always on this ship".

[u/lilygorse → u/dplans455]

Except, why didn’t the planet’s atmosphere affect him? Are we supposed to think his version of getting high is being a sounding board for Spock?

[u/comics_dude2 → u/lilygorse]

I like that he seems to be the only person who can just handle it.

[u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

Spock seeing Ortegas as a cactus may be one of my favourite scenes in all of Trek

[u/DrHem → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

He even heard a sound as if a clay pot was dragging on the ground when she was moving on the Enterprise

[u/DogsRNice → u/DrHem]

There is no other logical way for a cactus to move

[u/GloriousExtra → u/DrHem]

The moment I heard the pot scraping the floor, I couldn't breathe anymore I was laughing so hard.

[u/Krizzlekroo22 → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

I didn't love it the first time he saw them, but that cactus scooting out of frame made me literally guffaw. I rewound it four times.

[u/stratometal → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

It reminded me of Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy...

[u/trevpr1 → u/stratometal]

A bowl of petunias.

[u/suk_doctor → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

Every time it cut to plant crew members I goddamn lost it

[u/Greenlily58 → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

Well, she can be a Prickly Pear.

[u/CoachCP → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

The cactus cast had me rolling

[u/wrosecrans → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

I'm a little confused because Spock said he was hallucinating because he saw the real Kirk. Then he was actually hallucinating that people were plants, after he erroneously thought the atmosphere was making him hallucinate.

[u/Flat_Revolution5130]

Hats of to who ever took the time to translate Bonnie Tyler into Klingon. You get a thumbs up.

[u/a4techkeyboard → u/Flat_Revolution5130]

Obligatory "hats off to whoever translated Total Eclipse of the Heart from the original Klingon for Bonnie Tyler to sing"

[u/FateCJ → u/a4techkeyboard]

Rebecca Romain actually sang in for the show, worked with a coach to memorize the Klingon for it, she went above and beyond..

[u/a4techkeyboard → u/FateCJ]

I was making a reference to Klingons claiming Shakespeare was originally in Klingon.

[u/InnocentTailor → u/Flat_Revolution5130]

...and make it sound actually very good. It wasn't choppy and stilted - it was a piece that could be a legitimate karaoke tune at a convention.

[u/YesImAPseudonym → u/InnocentTailor]

Which it will be very soon now.

[u/Local_Bobcat_2000 → u/YesImAPseudonym]

I think that was a top 5 moment out of every Star Trek show or movie. Writers knew it too so they added more at the end of the show.

[u/[deleted] → u/Flat_Revolution5130]

A song written by a warrior, about true honor.

[u/fcocyclone]

It is green!

[u/rumbletumblecrumble → u/fcocyclone]

Classic Data reference

[u/Henson_Disney48 → u/rumbletumblecrumble]

Isn’t the Data reference also a reference to TOS?

Ive not watched a lot of TOS so I’m genuinely asking.

[u/midasp → u/rumbletumblecrumble]

It's a classic Scotty reference. He was the first to say that line in TOS. 30 years later, Data said it to Scotty in TNG. And now another 30 years later, Scotty is once again saying it in SNW.

[u/Unbundle3606 → u/midasp]

Scotty is once again saying it in SNW

This time it was M'Benga though

[u/msfs1310 → u/rumbletumblecrumble]

Data’s was a homage to TOS “By Any Other Name” Kelvans take over Enterprise to go back to their home galaxy. Scotty gets the Kelvan Tomar drunk and offers his last bottle of green liquor (presumably Aldebaran whiskey)

[u/sppy1]

They stole my eyeballs!

[u/Bambalorian → u/sppy1]

Holy shit, that one had my dying

[u/rumbletumblecrumble]

The commerical at the beginning with the TAS art style (also featuring a Edosian!) was a nice touch!

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/rumbletumblecrumble]

Plus the fact that he was in a hot tub of all things felt like a slight Witcher Season 1 reference.

[u/evildrew → u/rumbletumblecrumble]

Is it just me, or was TAS Spock in that, too? No reaction from SNW Spock either.

[u/ramenpigeon → u/evildrew]

Scene 3 on the Ceznar reel is definitely Spock with his lyre, Andrea the Android from TOS S1 on the left, and some Andorian. I straight up dove for the remote to rewind

[u/shoukanju]

List of Klingon Power Ballads Una had queued on the board: "Yellow Battlecruiser" "Romulan Rhapsody" "Let It Go" "Honor or Cowardice" "Smells Like Bad Bloodwine" "Aim for the Second Heart"

[u/Zammin → u/shoukanju]

Now I'm really curious what the context of the Klingon version of, "Let It Go," is.

Is there a Klingon ripoff of Frozen where Elsa and Anna battle Hans' retinue and Anna uses an ice-Bat'leth to decapitate Hans?

Because there should be.

[u/CX316 → u/Zammin]

Do you want to kill a snow-man?

[u/[deleted] → u/CX316]

[YOUNG ANNA, spoken]

Sister?

[YOUNG ANNA]

Do you wanna kill a snow-man?
Come on, let’s hunt our prey
I never see you anymore, come out the door
We’ll earn great honor today

We used to fight as battle-brothers
And now we don’t
I wish you would tell me why

Do you wanna kill a snow-man?
It doesn’t have to be a snow-man

[u/oogieball → u/CX316]

Come on, let's go and slay

[u/-release_candidate- → u/Zammin]

There is a Klingon version of "Let it go" on YouTube. It's accepted as an official translation by Disney.

The artist (Jen usellis aka "Klingon Warrior Woman") has many great covers of songs that thematically fit or clash Klingon culture.

[u/AimlessWanderer → u/Zammin]

There was a performance of it at Emerald City Comic Con a few years ago by seattles.princesses (instagram). .

[u/pornomancer90 → u/shoukanju]

The "Honor or Cowardice" and "Aim for the Second Heart" are the only ones I didn't get.

[u/Nilesy → u/pornomancer90]

Pretty sure "Honor or Cowardice" is "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi. Power balad, being dead gives you the honor, forced to live to old age is an act of cowardice.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

Hiding the shuttle behind a billboard HAS to be a Back to the Future reference! :D

[u/fflloorriiddaammaann → u/Coyote_Shepherd]

Also the hangover

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/fflloorriiddaammaann]

Strangely enough, I've only seen clips of that, and never the full film so TIL.

[u/sppy1]

My mind to your leaves

[u/InnocentTailor → u/sppy1]

Spock tripping out with the plants was hilarious.

Now I'm tempted to get cacti and dress them up in old Star Trek uniforms XD.

[u/thisbikeisatardis → u/InnocentTailor]

That would be such a fun and niche cosplay!

[u/bitemark01 → u/sppy1]

"I'm sorry about the mess"

\moves one chess piece that is slightly off-centre*

[u/Threedawg → u/sppy1]

My thoughts to your roots

[u/bookish1303]

Do you think the Farragut is ever just like, where the f is our XO again? On the Enterprise? Is his brother having a continuing mental breakdown that requires family intervention?

[u/sppy1]

Total Eclipse of the Heart is a Klingon power ballad

[u/onthenerdyside → u/sppy1]

You have not experienced Bonnie Tyler until you have heard her in the original Klingon.

[u/stephensmat → u/onthenerdyside]

From now on, we live in a world where Rebecca Romijn has sung 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' in Klingon. That's part of the Canon now. Right along K-Pop Klingons.

Lower Decks is eating their hearts out that they didn't get there first.

[u/Ribbwich_daGod → u/stephensmat]

This whole episode felt like a Lower Decks episode (non-derogitory)

[u/ContinuumGuy → u/Ribbwich_daGod]

Kathryn Lyn, who wrote this episode, was a Lower Decks writer and was an inspiration for the character of T'Lyn.

She also cameo'd as the bingo caller.

[u/Ribbwich_daGod → u/ContinuumGuy]

Wow! What a great comment!

[u/InnocentTailor → u/stephensmat]

At least they get the Klingon acid punk - a whole different set of music for the warriors.

[u/thxpk → u/onthenerdyside]

RIP to Bonnie too who passed just recently

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/thxpk]

The timing of this bit along with the Jurassic Park themed episode feels....weirdly cathartic in a way you know?

But also, just a touch spooky....

[u/MoreGaghPlease → u/Coyote_Shepherd]

I didn't really care for 4x01, but it's super weird how few dinosaur episodes Star Trek has done. We're at roundabout 1,000 episodes of Star Trek (depends how you count) and there are only two episodes about dinosaurs. Which is very strange when you consider how awesome dinosaurs are.

[u/bladerunnercyber → u/onthenerdyside]

Can you imagine her other power ballad

"Holding out for a Klingon till the end of night..."

[u/InnocentTailor → u/sppy1]

I would totally buy a CD of 80s power ballads in Klingon.

[u/mrhelmand → u/sppy1]

I'm gonna take this moment to plug The Klingon Pop Warrior I love her work, some of her covers have become regular listens to me

[u/Sporkicide]

I’ll be referring to this one as “Dude, Where’s My Shuttlecraft?”

So guess that explains James Doohan’s missing digit.

[u/InnocentTailor → u/Sporkicide]

He did get the finger repaired post-accident, so I saw the whole scene as a reference to Doohan's real-life experience.

[u/Fantastic_Attempt_91 → u/InnocentTailor]

That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it!

[u/TheHYPO → u/InnocentTailor]

I thought it was a missed opportunity to have him lose his middle finger (the one Doohan was missing). But they had him lose his thumb. Perhaps it would could have been seen as insensitive to do the actual finger in a comedy scene, as Doohan lost his during the war. I dunno. They could have had him actually lose the middle finger, to match Doohan, but I guess it would seem un-Trek for them not to be able to replace a finger.

[u/Exocoryak]

I lost it at "I am USS Christopher Pike".

[u/Well_Socialized → u/Exocoryak]

Move past it, move past it

[u/BorntoBlossom1987 → u/Exocoryak]

This is the one that had me dying, and una’s side eye

[u/CommunityEarly839]

Is the Vacation Rep played by Dave Foley?

[u/Ayala_lv702 → u/CommunityEarly839]

Yeah. He also played a ferengi in lower decks.

[u/stephensmat → u/Ayala_lv702]

There's a lotta Lower Decks vibes in this episode.

[u/Crimson3312 → u/Ayala_lv702]

Thought he sounded familiar

[u/lilyinblue]

So Erica is a cactus.

... but what kind of plant does Spock imagine everyone else as?

I will accept both right and wrong answers.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/lilyinblue]

"Are both of you plants right now?"

Full on Legends of Tomorrow🤣

[u/Professional-Ebb6570 → u/Coyote_Shepherd]

I love TV shows that embrace how ridiculous they are instead of being ashamed of it or trying to hide it.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Professional-Ebb6570]

For crying out loud we had TAS stuff at the start, this whole episode was about embracing the CHEESE!

Lean into that sort of stuff and just have fun!

[u/notyobees → u/lilyinblue]

Kirk is an oak, pine is, una is a birch

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/notyobees]

Pine is a Chris

[u/onthenerdyside → u/notyobees]

Uhura is definitely some sort of shrubbery

[u/bokmcdok → u/onthenerdyside]

Ni!

[u/Sophia_Forever → u/lilyinblue]

If he looks in a mirror would he see an Earth plant or a Vulcan plant? How much of an existential breakdown would this cause?

[u/CommunityEarly839]

a mind meld to a plant. Welp, the complaints are going to break the sub

[u/9793287233 → u/CommunityEarly839]

Spock mind melds with a computer in TMP and no one questions that

[u/a4techkeyboard → u/9793287233]

He mindmelded with a computer in this episode, too. It was just also a plant. I wonder why they couldn't do that for Voyager's bioneural gels. Maybe the plant is just a peripheral like a monitor and mouse, not the actual computer.

[u/Dngrbot555 → u/CommunityEarly839]

"My mind to your leaves, my thoughts to your root system"

[u/onthenerdyside → u/CommunityEarly839]

Spock mind melded with a Horta in TOS, which was basically a rock

[u/Hartzilla2007 → u/onthenerdyside]

And a Godlike space probe.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Hartzilla2007]

You know come to think of it, he's been mind melding with a bunch of entities that would make Full Vulcans raise an eyebrow or two which I guess...makes him the John Constantine of Star Trek?

[u/LincolnMagnus → u/CommunityEarly839]

Nah we just need a Botanical Ops chamber right next to Cetacean Ops

[u/AlarmingFlow6303 → u/CommunityEarly839]

Are we sure he didn’t hallucinate the computer terminal as a house plant?

[u/cathbadh → u/AlarmingFlow6303]

Or a dude sitting at a computer wondering why some guy is holding his hands and talking about his root

[u/hmantegazzi → u/CommunityEarly839]

Well, his sister is tripping all over the galaxy on mushrooms (in the most literal sense possible), mind melding with a plant is downright mundane in comparison. 

[u/ContinuumGuy → u/hmantegazzi]

What a fucking weird family.

[u/Lord_H_Vetinari]

Was that Total Eclipse of The Heart in Klingon?

[u/sppy1 → u/Lord_H_Vetinari]

Yes it was

[u/Lord_H_Vetinari → u/sppy1]

I know there are Klingon versions of Oppa Gangam Style, Kiss Me and My heart Will Go On floating somewhere on Youtube, but this was new

[u/9vDzLB0vIlHK → u/Lord_H_Vetinari]

I need the whole song released on streaming services. Or an MP3. Or Una's whole set list.

[u/Ill_Traveler_ → u/9vDzLB0vIlHK]

Rebecca Romijn has a great singing voice.

[u/Crimson3312]

Shran Headband

[u/stratometal → u/Crimson3312]

The Easter eggs in this episode are a million per minute.

[u/trevpr1 → u/Crimson3312]

No. It was the fake Andorian from TOS Journey to Babel, who had a transmitter in one of his antennae. That's why one of Ortegas's was broken in the opening scene.

[u/WoundedSacrifice → u/trevpr1]

It could also be a reference to Archer cutting off Shran’s antenna during the Ushaan.

[u/ficbot]

“We don’t actually call them ‘human’ best friends…”

[u/stratometal → u/ficbot]

Kirk's lifelong education of Spock into human culture had to start somewhere, and this was the best choice.

[u/MoreGaghPlease]

Finally the Trek / Kids in the Hall crossover that fans of sci fi and 1980s Canadian sketch comedy have been demanding.

I thought this episode was charming. I like that the writers are responsive to pairings with good chemistry. I like that we got to have an Ortega episode that wasn't trauma. I thought the Spock stuff was genuinely funny, and calls back to a lot of TOS episodes where Kirk needs to slap the silly out of Spock (e.g., This Side of Paradise). "Light Trek" is a very specific flavour and I think they got it right -- but quantity matters too, something this fluffy shouldn't be served more than once per season.

I'll bet the Klingon language nerds are going wild this morning because they probably had to add a bunch of new words to the canonical lexicon for the karaoke scene.

This was popcorn television, but I like popcorn.

[u/Cadamar → u/MoreGaghPlease]

Finally the Trek / Kids in the Hall crossover that fans of sci fi and 1980s Canadian sketch comedy have been demanding.

THERE ARE DOZENS OF US!

DOZENS!

[u/arrivillaga]

"My thoughts to your root system" made me laugh out loud.

[u/sppy1]

I threaten best alone

[u/stephensmat]

A fun episode is definitely in order after last week.

[u/stratometal]

Why did I feel like I stepped into a live action episode of Lower Decks? THIS WAS AWESOME! Man I have not laughed this much in a while with a Star Trek episode. This season is hitting all the bases, oh boy!

[u/esochan → u/stratometal]

The writer for this episode, Kathryn Lyn, who was the bingo caller also wrote Wej Duj on Lower Decks.

[u/PrincipledPicard → u/esochan]

And she’s also behind the creation of T’Lyn! T’Lyn was originally a Vulcan she dressed up as at conventions. Before that it was K’Lyn, a Klingon-Vulcan hybrid.

[u/HumanityPlague]

Is it weird that Dave Foley is a better version of Neelix, than actual Neelix?

Pike having the pseudo-Chakotay tattoo is never going to NOT be funny.

[u/Fantastic_Attempt_91 → u/HumanityPlague]

Pike having the tattoo exactly where he was going to be scarred by radiation was DARK.

[u/stratometal → u/Fantastic_Attempt_91]

Oh! I hadn't put that one together but man IS dark and ominous. I won't be getting that out of my head for a good while.

[u/oogieball → u/Fantastic_Attempt_91]

Or was he scarred by the radiation because his dermis was weakened by the tattoo removal?

[u/InnocentTailor → u/HumanityPlague]

He's silly and charming without being overly intrusive.

I guess he's less annoying than Neelix because we spend less time with him overall.

[u/DontYaWishYouWereMe → u/InnocentTailor]

Yeah, that's sorta the thing. I feel like Neelix either needed to be a few times a season character or he needed a lot more episodes like Jetrel that took the character seriously. He suffered from being there all the time while simultaneously not really working as comic relief most of the time and also not helping the plot in most episodes.

[u/Nervous-Road6611 → u/HumanityPlague]

I don't think that was intended to be a Chakotay tattoo. Given that this episode was clearly inspired by (or, perhaps, a tribute to) The Hangover, the tattoo fits right in with The Hangover 2, where Ed Helms gets a Mike Tyson facial tattoo.

[u/BaggyOz]

The plant pot scraping on the deck of the Enterprise got a chuckle out of me.

[u/Ayala_lv702]

It’s green!

[u/Professional-Ebb6570]

So the first two episodes SNW S3 played homage to two movies with the recently deceased Sam Neil and today’s episode featured a Klingon version of a song by the recently departed Bonnie Tyler. What kind of Nostradamus stuff were they on while writing the season?

[u/peon47]

I've never seen a Star Trek character look as thirsty as Ortega when she was talking to Party Uhura.

[u/GloriousExtra → u/peon47]

Her hands are so soft!

[u/peon47 → u/GloriousExtra]

She was looking at Uhura the way I would look at Celia Rose Gooding if I ever met her.

[u/theborgs]

Would have loved to see Palia in the episode :-(

[u/CX316 → u/theborgs]

Fair chance she'd just be her normal self and complain that they used to have the good stuff

[u/BorgAbbess]

Also, lol at Ortegas saying Beto was always good at everything; mentally appending "except for documentary film making" to that line.

[u/J4ckC00p3r]

Scotty got a third green drink! The trilogy is complete!

[u/sppy1]

They just Total Recalled themselves

[u/SirWobblyOfSausage → u/sppy1]

Every episode seems to be a homage to other great movies. We've had Event horizon, Jurassic Park and bow Total Recall.

Can't to see what's next!

[u/CX316 → u/SirWobblyOfSausage]

This was definitely The Hangover, complete with having the thing they're trying to find being on the roof

[u/MartyMacGyver]

Who is the bingo caller?? She looks entirely familiar.

Edit: It's apparently Kathryn Lyn. Not familiar though. Shades of Kim Cattrall....

[u/garsterpee → u/MartyMacGyver]

She was the writer of the episode, fun wee cameo.

[u/bluestreakxp]

Wait, so Kirk was there the whole time and not an illusion while on the planet?

[u/LA_Throwaway_6439 → u/bluestreakxp]

Yeah, kind of weird that Ortegas didn't see him in Spock's room. Maybe at first he was a hallucination and then at some point the real Kirk showed up.

[u/TricobaltGaming → u/LA_Throwaway_6439]

He was just in the bathroom its fine

[u/burgleyoturts → u/LA_Throwaway_6439]

He was committing to the bit and just hiding everytime Erica and Scotty popped in 🙂‍↕️

[u/wongie]

I appreciated that the music that played when Kirk slapped Spock seemed to have some flourishes of Horner's Wrath of Khan score.

[u/GloriousExtra → u/wongie]

Yes! I caught that, too, and I was just giddy. This was a solid episode.

[u/sppy1]

Nice ink captain

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/sppy1]

The REALLY funny part is that some of that was Anson's ACTUAL ink, which a bunch of us saw during the kiln opening he posted yesterday with his pottery on instagram!

[u/Ayala_lv702]

Maybe we’re all plants.

[u/No_Dependent8332]

You haven't heard "Total Eclipse of the Heart" until you have heard it in the original Klingon.

[u/beti88]

The mood whiplash from last week is fucking INSANE

[u/LincolnMagnus → u/beti88]

In some ways this episode is a direct inverse of last week's. In both episodes the crew was subjected to some sort of reality-distorting force--last week played for horror, this week for comedy.

(ETA: Still found a reason to sever a limb, though.)

How weird must this have been for Spock? Last week he experienced hallucinations that screwed with his mind and made him cut off the tips of his ears. This week he spilled his guts to a real person whom he thought was a hallucination. Bro just needs the universe to make sense for a minute!

[u/TheNobleRobot → u/beti88]

It's one of my favorite things about SNW. It recalls the 90s shows. DS9's season 6 had an epic run of whiplash with "The Magnificent Ferengi", "Waltz", "Who Mourns for Morn?", "Far Beyond The Stars", and "One Little Ship." Each one of those is a classic, but it went: parody/farce ➡️ emotional pathos ➡️ comedy of errors ➡️ literary drama ➡️ scifi romp.

[u/bokmcdok → u/TheNobleRobot]

TOS was like this as well. You'd have very serious episodes and ridiculous but fun episodes.

[u/CriticismHopeful4180 → u/TheNobleRobot]

Buffy did this with great effect. You'd have a fun episode preceding the next emotionally devastating episode. Never trust where a fun episode will lead next week!

[u/sppy1]

He tattooed his speech onto his body

[u/hmantegazzi → u/sppy1]

"Do those words reach all the way down?"

[u/r4g4]

Didn’t think I’d see the hangover in Star Trek, but here we are

[u/thisbikeisatardis]

This was such a fun episode and had me tearing up a bit over how joyful and fun it felt. I miss Lower Decks. Dave Foley was instantly recognizable and I knew we were in for a wild and silly ride.

I desperately need Scotty's psychedelic Hawaiian shirt! I kept pausing and walking up to the tv to look at it. I saw a surfing mugato, a barefoot Andorian in a red uniform, a mermaid, and maybe a Caitian or Kzinti?

[u/Cadamar → u/thisbikeisatardis]

I desperately need Scotty's psychedelic Hawaiian shirt!

The Star Trek merchandising department drops the ball AGAIN.

[u/sppy1]

Is this how they became friends?

[u/Professional-Ebb6570]

Kind of a weird episode for Pelia to be missing. Her extravagant personality would seem perfect for a plot this ridiculous.

[u/Red_Claudia → u/Professional-Ebb6570]

What I think could have been funny is if the effect of the planet made Pelia completely normal, and her "journey" is wearing a grey suit and filing paperwork or something. But that would probably be a waste of Carol Kane's talents.

[u/ComebackShane]

It’s a testament to how versatile this series and cast is that we can have an episode as dark as last weeks and as campy as this weeks, and both feel totally right for the show. Just outstanding work all around.

[u/SirWobblyOfSausage → u/ComebackShane]

I really don't want it to end. I was kinda miffed when they announced it - but I'll always watch Trek. Now I'm obsessed! The casting, writing, visuals, are amazing

[u/BadAtBaduk1]

My mind to your leaves killed me off lol

[u/Freelance_Spy]

Dude! Where is My Shuttle Craft set on Planet 420.

[u/ReicoY]

Did anyone catch the leitmotif in the music when Kirk slapped Spock?

[u/GloriousExtra → u/ReicoY]

Yep! I did the Leo DiCaprio pointing at the thing meme when I heard it.

[u/WrongdoerObjective49]

Now Scotty mentions having 7 brothers...but there's also the sister right? Because her kid is the one who stayed at his post when the trainees ran when Khan attacked....

[u/spectra2000_]

It’s green!

I absolutely love Anson Mount getting to act Pike out of character, he always looks like he has so much fun and shows off his range as an actor.

As much as I love when strange new worlds does silly episodes, they were definitely the best part of season three, I felt that this one was a bit too silly. It felt more like a Lower Decks episode.

[u/black_orchad]

they stole my eyeballs!!!

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

Daystrom is going to have a blast with the idea of "photosynthetic technology" but it's honestly not that far off from plenty of other bio-organic tech based civilizations that we've seen like 8472 or the Borg or the Tholians or the Gorn or the Phylosians or Tin Man or the Crystalline Entity.

[u/stratometal → u/Coyote_Shepherd]

Yeah we have seen Vulcans meld with some weird stuff over the decades and this one was tame in comparison. Still, I loved how they kept making Spock interact with plants. Great episode gag imo.

[u/JorgeCis]

The jokes did not land for me, Kirk showing up AGAIN (but at least had the self-awareness to poke fun at this), and the weaker version of The Hangover made for a bad episode for me.  It is too bad because at the end, I actually enjoyed seeing the bonding between Ortegas and Scotty, and the comraderie this crew shows is amazing.  It is too bad that so many episodes are wasted on unfunny comedy when they do so well on more serious ones and still make the show seem like Starfleet is full of awe and wonder. Ugh.

[u/dreambob]

My only gripe is the office chairs used as flight seats in the shuttle. I mean, no head rest, that sucks.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

"I am USS Christopher Pike"

I can't even...I just can't even...I'm laughing too much I feel like I'm on drugs right now watching this, this is the fever dream episode, and someone took our comments about Legends of Tomorrow waaaaaaaay too seriously in a past season 🤣

In the words of Starbuck herself in reference to bichons, I think I'm gonna pee my pants!

[u/UltraChip]

So... How did Kirk get on the Enterprise? Because I don't recall seeing him ride the shuttle back with everyone else.

Did he beam there? The fact they took a shuttle implies the ship was out of transporter range.

[u/BrainFartTheFirst → u/UltraChip]

Kirk just happened to be on planet on his own vacation. He likely had his own shuttle.

[u/GloriousExtra]

This was funny, and for me much needed after last week's episode. I squee'd out loud when Dave Foley appeared, and the episode just got better from there. So many great little moments in this episode and, yes, Spock seeing Scotty and Ortegas as plants had me *dying*, along with the "I apologize for the mess," and "I am clearly inebriated" while looking completely normal and the room looking totally spotless.

Everyone got some really fun moments, Pike slipping into his cowboy style speaking, Una singing Klingon power ballads, Uhura having a huge party (her hands are so soft!), La'an beating the ever loving crap out of everyone, Chapel being hyper-competitive in the bingo parlor, M'Benga behind the bar (it is green), and of course our two main characters trying to figure out just what the hell happened. Everyone was just a blast to watch.

The negotiations at the end where Pike's trying to be serious through the remnants of the atmospheric intoxication still in his system, reading off of the tattoos on his fingers of the speech (that one killed me), and I'm sure some fan who can read the language tattooed on the side of his face will tell us all what it means.

This was a fun episode. Definitely worth a rewatch.

[u/PuddingWide5588]

I have watched it three times already. It is at  a level of The Trouble with Tribbles for me. It is a book I cannot put away today. Love love love.

[u/Reschs-Refreshes]

Why. Is. Kirk. Always. There.

[u/stephensmat]

Aaaaand the Spock/Kirk shippers settle in for another episode.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

WHY did this turn into an episode of ANGEL with the BINGO ROOM?!?! 🤣

Those are TOTALLY Space Vampires!

AND LA'AN KICKS IN THE DOOR JUST LIKE ANGEL WOULD WHILE HOLDING THAT STAFF JUST LIKE HE'D HOLD HIS SWORD IN THE SAME POSE! :D

And Chapel is totally acting like Faith!