Strange New Worlds hits the season halfway point with “Spock Amok,” an episode that at least I can say I enjoyed. Who doesn’t love character development, hijinks, and a healthy dose of galactic diplomacy?

It’s a great outing for Spock and T’Pring, but also delivers excellent growth for Chapel, Una and La’an in healthy doses. Then again, I am a little apprehensive about a body swap episode; the concept to me always feels like something that should stay in the fan-fiction arena. Did the writers stick the landing? I’m not sure, but they didn’t make a mess of it.

“Spock Amok” opens with what can best be described as three minutes of glorious, absurdist fan service. There’s no other way to really describe watching Spock (Ethan Peck) return to the ritual site from “Amok Time,” complete with weird bell racks, gongs and lirpas — and that iconic fight music.

The difference is that this time, instead of having to fight his best friend and captain, he must fight his Vulcan half. It’s camp — extremely camp, almost to the point of ridiculousness — but they just about get away with it, if just through how Ethan Peck sells both different halves of himself.

I’m glad this was just a dream sequence though; Star Trek’s history with understanding mixed identities is incredibly subpar. “Spock Amok” leans onto the acceptable side of it, but even this scene, as camp and fun as it is, makes a me little concerned. At the very least, placing the split identities as part of Spock’s own internal conflict (as opposed to a fundamental reality, as we saw in episodes like Voyager’s “Faces”) is better.

Back in the real world, the Enterprise has returned to Starbase 1 for repairs and shore leave following last week’s Gorn encounter. Spock is looking forward to spending some time with T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), in between aiding in a diplomatic negotiation. T’Pring, when she arrives, is as delicate as always, criticising Spock’s decorating choices before questioning his commitment to their relationship.

It’s okay though, as T’Pring has her own work to do: trying to rehabilitate a logic-rejecting Vulcan fugitive. It’s nice that they finally gave T’Pring a job!

Meanwhile, Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) briefs Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Spock about ongoing diplomatic negotiations with the R’ongovian Protectorate, a nation that holds the space between the Klingon and Romulan Empires.

While early talks with the Tellarites didn’t go well, it seems that the Federation’s stripe-faced new friends are big fans of Captain Pike, so much so that they want to negotiate immediately… interrupting Spock’s dinner plans. T’Pring isn’t very happy about, perhaps unfairly so — even here, where they’re trying to get along, it’s entirely unclear whether she actually likes him that much. Maybe they need some time apart.

On that note, we catch up some of the other crew as they depart the Enterprise for their own shore leave plans — Ortegas (Melissa Navia) heads to beam off the ship with M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and his hat in tow, while Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) leaves to spend some fun time with her no-strings-attached boyfriend at a swanky bar aboard the base.

It’s fun, and great for character development to see them all talking about their lives off ship… and how different Una (Rebecca Romijn) and La’an (Christina Chong) are, as their reputation for “shore staying” has earned them the nickname “Where fun goes to die.” They’re not very happy about how the rest of the crew views them (despite La’an saying she doesn’t care), and even less so when they find two ensigns preparing to make an unauthorized spacewalk.

Spock’s relationship troubles weigh heavy on him, as he heads over to the starbase lounge after disappointing T’Pring — so heavy, in fact, that Chapel uses his arrival as excellent opportunity to escape her deeply forgettable, commitment-heavy hook-up to check in on him.

It’s nice to see Chapel and Spock’s friendship grow, especially because of how well Ethan Peck and Jess Bush gel with each other. Chapel offers some sage advice: try and connect to T’Pring at Spock’s level. It’s sensible, I guess?  Less sensible when the Vulcan soul-sharing ceremony goes wrong, and they end up in each other’s bodies.

It’s… camp. There is no other word for it. Absolute, absurd, beautiful insane Star Trek camp nonsense. Spock and his fiancé swapping bodies? Absolutely insane! Peck and Sandhu absolutely sell it though, taking on each other’s postures, tone of voice, intonation and use of words. It’s great! Ridiculous, but great!

It gets better when Pike pops to tell them that the R’ongovians will only keep talking to the Federation if Spock takes over negotiations — and after a moment of trying to hide behind their “sacred things,” the pair subvert expectations by just telling the captain about what’s happened. Despite the crazy situation, Spock is still needed — so T’Pring (in Spock’s body) is conscripted to Starfleet service, leaving Spock (in T’Pring’s body) to figure out a solution.

That’s when T’Pring’s assistant calls, informing Spock that her fugitive has agreed to meet on the Starbase, and in a reversal of Captain Pike’s need, he’ll only meet with T’Pring. It’s nice to see that her role is a vital one for Vulcan society, even if Spock is now put in his own awkward situation. Tracking down Chapel for advice, the incredulous nurse gives him guidance that Spock never expected: go do T’Pring’s job.

While Spock considers Chapel’s advise, T’Pring is holding her own against the R’ongovians, who have suddenly become very… logical. She falters, however, when they ask her what Spock and the Vulcan people gain from Federation membership. T’Pring speaks from her own perspective, providing a very insular, Vulcan answer based on her own distaste for Starfleet and Spock’s long absences from home.

Pike intervenes at this point, stepping into to defend Spock against “his” own explanation, and points out the sacrifices that he’s made for Starfleet and his duty. It’s more classic Pike — in little doses this week, as it really should be — and it appears to impress both the R’ongovians and T’Pring.

Spock is having just as much difficulty with his task, even with Chapel taken along as backup. Barjan T’Or (Alden Adair),is horribly unpleasant to talk to, in a deeply unlikable, extremely Vulcan manner. Even as a logic rejectionist, his hatred of humanity is even stronger — enough so that even the sight of Chapel next to T’Pring is enough for him to reconsider handing himself in to custody.

Spock does his best to hold his cool as T’Pring, but when Barjan starts insulting Spock, he loses his cool, knocking the bigoted Vulcan criminal out cold. It’s ridiculous, but I’ll take it.

Eventually, M’Benga and Chapel manage to swap the couple back by zapping their brains through a bit of sea urchin paste, shocking their systems into kicking their stuck katras back to where they belong. Spock thanks Chapel — both for fixing him, and for offering him sage advice — and it’s clear here that she’s seeing something in him that she hadn’t seen before. It’s nice to see the start of the *ahem* poorly handled infatuation we know from the Original Series starting to appear in a much more subtle and nuanced manner.

The final meeting with the R’ongovians goes rather differently than expected, as Captain Pike explaining why they should join the UFP… by giving them every reason why they shouldn’t. He highlights the dangers of Federation membership — the loss of individualized power, the risk of invasion or worse — and his emphasis of the risks involved horrifies Admiral April and Cadet Uhura, each watching from the sidelines.

However, Pike has a hunch — a good one — that the R’ongovian’s different attitudes to different negotiators is about radical empathy; a diplomatic play designed to make you see everything from the other side’s point of view. It’s a clever plot idea and ploy, and it pays off; the R’ongovians decide to join the Federation.

While all of these challenges have been happening to Spock and Pike, Una and La’an have uncovered a somewhat secret tradition among the Enterprise lower decks crew: those two airlock-bound ensigns were trying for a spacewalk to complete “Enterprise Bingo,” a break-the-rules game neither oh-so-serious officer knew existed.

The duo isn’t initially impressed with the concept, but soon decide to try it in order to see for themselves “how the other half lives,” and in story that feels delightfully inspired by Star Trek: Lower Decks, the pair start to have more and more fun as they make their way down the game’s checklist. (Watching Romijn and Chong mess around with turbolifts controls, transporters and phasers is incredibly silly and fun — and I think I even prefer it over Spock’s body-swap story.)

After Una gets a low-power phaser bolt to the shoulder, the duo realize that the point of Enterprise Bingo isn’t about silly hijinks, it’s about rule breaking, and as the rule-makers, they need to elevate “Enterprise Bingo” and break the rules in a new way. So  they decide to “Sign the Scorch” in style — by projecting an force field-contained atmosphere over the saucer itself. It’s a very good use of the AR wall, especially when we see the R’ongovian solar sail vessel leave, giving the pair a moment of shared wonderment.

It’s very nice to see Una and La’ans joint development move beyond trauma to joy and laughter. That’s sort of the overall feeling in this episode: that the R’ongovian’s principle of radical empathy is an important part of how we live, whether in relationships, diplomacy or friendships — and to have that message told in such a light-hearted way is brilliant after the last few weeks of heavy storylines.

CAMP NONSENSE OF THE WEEK

The whole episode. The whole thing. Everything about it! Hijinks are the campest thing imaginable!

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• This episode takes place on Stardate 2341.4.
   
• As the Enterprise arrives at Starbase 1, a second Constitution-class starship can be seen pulling in to dock at another of its berths.
   
• Spock alludes to Starbase 1’s post-Klingon War repairs; we saw the station heavily damaged all the way back in Star Trek: Discovery’s first season (“The War Without, The War Within”).
   
• Captain Pike debuts the Strange New Worlds take on the iconic green wraparound uniform which originated with Captain Kirk in “The Enemy Within,” including its waist-level belt.

• M’Benga’s fishing hat is ridiculous, but seems like an allusion to another TV doctor: Lt. Colonel Henry Blake from M*A*S*H.
   
• Admiral April’s map of R’ongovian territory is yet another modification of the Alpha Quadrant map graphic introduced in Discovery’s first season. (I am not a fan of that map, for the record.)
   
• The discussions of Klingon and Romulan negotiations with the R’ongovians implies that even if Starfleet doesn’t know what a Romulan ship — or a Romulan — look like, they’ve got some idea about the Romulan Star Empire’s political motives.
   
• The visiting R’ongovian delegation fly a solar sail ship; the first ship of this type seen in Star Trek is the Bajoran lightship from “Explorers.”

• Spock’s dream about battling his human half in ritual Kal-if-fee combat features musical score which includes excerpts from Gerald Fried’s original “Amok Time” fight theme.
   
• T’Pring and Spock greet each with dialogue first heard in “Amok Time,” as the couple each say “Parted from me, and never parted. Never and always touching and touched. We meet at the appointed place.”
   
• T’Pring works for Vulcan’s El-Keshtanktil service, an equivalent of the US Marshals Service, tasked with tracking down and capturing “dangerous criminals” and “showing them the true path of Vulcan logic.”
   
• Barjan T’Or, T’Pring’s fugitive, is V’tosh ka’tur (or a “Vulcan without logic”), a group which made its first appearance in the 2001 Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Fusion.”
   
• Spock mentions his pet sehlat, I-Chaya, seen in the Animated Series episode “Yesteryear.”
   
• The “soul sharing” katra transfer ritual is not without precedent; Spock temporarily transferred his consciousness to the mind of Nurse Chapel to avoid being destroyed by Sargon in “Return to Tomorrow.” (He clearly took this incident with T’Pring as a learning experience!)

To score a full “Enterprise Bingo,” all ten of these items must be completed:

* Use Transporter to Reflavor Gum
* Phaser Stun Duel
* Turbolift Two-Floor Shout Challenge
* Set the Universal Translator to Andorian
* Gravity Boot Hang Challenge
* Medical Tricorder Challenge: Vulcan Marsupial
* Food Replicator Challenge: Durian Fruit
* Sneak a Tribble into the Transporter Buffer
* Sit in the Captain’s Chair
* EV Suit Challenge: Unsanctioned Space Walk
* Sign the Scorch

• The crewmates trying to open the Enterprise airlock include Ensign Christina (Jennifer Hui) — a communications bridge officer introduced in “Children of the Comet” — and Ensign Zier (Torri Webster), the first live-action Bolian seen since the Star Trek: Voyager series finale.

• Mild-mannered Chief Kyle (Andre Dae Kim) is apparently “so mean!”
   
• “Enterprise Bingo” was first mentioned by Ortegas in “Children of the Comet.”
   
• “The Scorch” is the oldest unreplaced piece of the Enterprise hull, located on the dorsal side of the saucer section.
   
• The “Vulcan Marsupial” tricorder challenge is a deep cut reference to a similar trick Lewis Zimmerman played on the EMH in “Life Line.”
   
• Every time Una checks off an “Enterprise Bingo” achievement, her padd plays a brief 8-bit rendition of the Star Trek theme.

“Spock Amok” is fun! Its stakes are low, it’s reasonably funny, and it’s got some rather thought-provoking ideas about diplomacy, empathy and relationships. There’s some great worldbuilding elements as well, from the R’ongovians, to logic criminals, to “Enterprise Bingo.”

This is certainly an episode that excellent in making the universe feel more ‘lived-in,’ something that Discovery and Picard hasn’t always been good at during the last 5 years. I still feel a little off about the concept of the body-swap plot device, and about the emphasis on Spock’s internal conflicts. Splitting a mixed character in two — either in their mind, or in reality – is never a good move in my view, and requires a certain level of delicate handling.

I’m still undecided as to whether “Spock Amok” had that under control.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns with “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” on Thursday, June 9 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada.

The series will arrive to the UK and Ireland on Paramount+ on June 22; additional international distribution has not yet been announced.