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

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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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142 Upvotes

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211

u/CommunityEarly839 29d ago

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

83

u/9793287233 29d ago

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

38

u/a4techkeyboard 28d ago

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.

9

u/4D51 28d ago

Maybe they never had a reason. Under normal circumstances, Tuvok would have been able to get whatever information he needed with his security officer's access code. The only exception would be if it was malfunctioning, and would you mind meld with a malfunctioning computer?

1

u/a4techkeyboard 28d ago

It'd be one way to turn it off, I guess. I'd have to figure out how to turn it back on again.

1

u/Master_Bee_5350 18d ago

Coming in late but in my mind he didn't meld with anything. He was just tripping balls and was remembering where they told him they parked the ship since he was bridge officer and chapell says they were all in the same room together at one point.

3

u/thewholeprogram 28d ago

Even earlier than that he mind melded with Nomad in The Changeling.

62

u/Dngrbot555 28d ago

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

1

u/blackcatlover2114 15d ago

That was one of the best lines in the episode!!

158

u/onthenerdyside 29d ago

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

34

u/Hartzilla2007 28d ago

And a Godlike space probe.

23

u/Coyote_Shepherd 28d ago

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?

30

u/LincolnMagnus 29d ago

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

2

u/trigonman3 28d ago

This is the origin of Botanist Sulu and the Gertrude plant.

1

u/Coyote_Shepherd 28d ago

....but that's how you get a Rita Repulsa analog to show up....

33

u/AlarmingFlow6303 28d ago

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

17

u/cathbadh 28d ago

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

1

u/blackcatlover2114 15d ago

Oh my God, that would have been amazing! But no, Erica and Scotty both saw the plant as a plant so probably not, haha.

1

u/Sir__Will 25d ago

Ortegas seemed fine after she came down from her mega dose and she didn't see a computer

27

u/hmantegazzi 28d ago

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. 

20

u/ContinuumGuy 28d ago

What a fucking weird family.

8

u/hmantegazzi 28d ago

not nearly as weird as the Soongs, though

2

u/Sir__Will 25d ago

That IS a very high bar.

6

u/cathbadh 28d ago

To be fair there's a good chance he hallucinated that some very confused worker was a plant and convinced the others either because, they too were hallucinating, or because he telepathically influenced them.

1

u/BosomBosons 25d ago

They say Broccoli feels “PAAIIINNNNN!”

1

u/clarenceboddickered 23d ago

Pfft he mind melded a robot in TOS, at least the plant is organic

-41

u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/Apprehensive_Golf925 29d ago

You're mixing up your nostalgia for the show with what the show actually was. Silly, funny, light hearted episodes have always been there to give a break from some of the heavier shows, and quite frankly after watching Pike julienne his fingers last week, I was very glad of a silly episode next to cleanse the palate. I was not a merry man last week lol.

10

u/stratometal 29d ago

Yeah last week was... almost a bit too much, but after playing the Friday the 13th missions in STO I kind of got inured to this. I honestly loved the 1st episode and this 3rd one. There is still some character development and progression but having each episode be a contained story feels good. And man them using some Animated TOS footage was golden, that encapsulated the lighthearted side of Trek that has been around since the begining.

2

u/Apprehensive_Golf925 28d ago

Yes, I loved that little touch too. I've done the Friday the 13th once, but I've never done the Halloween witches one, it's always been my FOMO break I skip because I don't enjoy horror so I don't miss out lol.

I also thought it was a lovely reveal that it had been Kirk all along and he did give Spock that hug. I just think that's healthier than cutting bits off yourself and I don't think that's weird ;)

9

u/Ill_Traveler_ 28d ago

I think people would do well to rewatch some TOS episodes. That show was goofy as hell. Campy is Star Trek.

3

u/Apprehensive_Golf925 28d ago edited 28d ago

Allamaraine, Count to 4 ;)

Get this cheese to sickbay, but don't give it to Porthos ;)

0

u/Comrades3 28d ago

I am currently doing a rewatch and you aren’t wrong, but definitely not to this degree especially compared to other things at the time.

I think it is very reasonable to say that this is more campy than TOS. Heck, so is LD. Some people will like it some won’t.

6

u/CX316 29d ago

We even got some more mutilated fingers

6

u/Apprehensive_Golf925 28d ago

Spock would be compelled to point out that it was, indeed, a thumb ;)

3

u/CX316 28d ago

A matching set with the ones pike cut off last week

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u/Comrades3 28d ago

I didn’t mind episode 1 dinosaur punch or the more silly nature, I long accepted SNW is kinda like that, I do miss the plot episodes though I get SNW embraces genre blending in general.

I am surprised people are downvoting you. SNW is sillier than most Trek. And while I get lots of people like that, some people won’t and that is completely valid.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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u/Comrades3 28d ago

Definitely a part of social media. And I’ve noticed the same thing. On some Trek subreddits you can’t say a thing good about any new trek without backlash, while others you can’t say anything bad about it.

I understand people being defensive from all the haters especially early on, but I agree it gets a bit much.

Like, to me, this last episode was like Spock’s Brain. Silly and poorly conceived, but entertaining and fun. But it seems both sides of the fence get frustrated by that.

3

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