After months of hints, and a formal announcement at San Diego Comic Con, Star Trek’s first full-on musical episode has arrived — and if you are a musical fan you’re going to find a lot to love in this episode. The last two episodes represent two of Strange New Worlds’ biggest swings yet, and they are both wildly different; the universally well received crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks “Those Old Scientists,” and the dark and thoughtful war drama “Under the Cloak of War.”
 
And in what will be remembered as perhaps Star Trek’s most experimental season to date, the show switches things up once again and delivers a joyous musical episode that dives deep into the characters and their relationships in meaningful ways — in addition to all the singing and dancing. While Star Trek has had plenty of musicality before, “Subspace Rhapsody” is the franchise’s first true musical, and the episode leans hard into the structure, tone, and some of the tropes of traditional musical theater.
 

You likely have to be a fan of the musical theater genre in order to connect with “Subspace Rhapsody” — but while this episode is not going to be for everyone, I strongly believe that all fans should applaud Strange New Worlds for undertaking this venture.

When Star Trek takes risks, it creates opportunities for unique experiences and episodes that allow the franchise to try new things and connect with its audience in different ways. A musical might not work for you, but the courage it takes for the franchise to decide to create a musical episode may then make possible another experiment that does. And if this experiment does not work for you? Well, you still have nearly 900 other episodes of Star Trek to enjoy.

“Subspace Rhapsody” works for me. In addition to being a full-on musical complete with big songs, dance numbers, and grand finales, this episode is also a deep character episode that continues, and in some cases concludes, character arcs from season two to this point. It is not a throwaway triviality of a Strange New Worlds episode, but one that is integral to the threads and relationships that have been cultivated across the first two seasons. And it’s fun that so much of that comes to a head through song.

While investigating a naturally-occurring subspace fold — in the hopes that it will unlock the secrets to real-time subspace communication across the Federation — the Enterprise accidentally dislodges a “quantum uncertainty field” that creates a new reality in which people sing uncontrollably.

Obviously, there is going to be some element of contrivance in order to maneuver a Star Trek episode into a musical, but you know what? This one works for me. It’s technobabbly, it’s connected to the era of Strange New Worlds and the canon of Star Trek — why yes, real time subspace communications would be great! — and it opens the door to a lot of fun.

The ten original songs of “Subspace Rhapsody” — written by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce — range from solos (“Keeping Secrets”) to ensemble numbers which feature the whole crew (“We Are One”). Each has something to like about them, though a few are more forgettable than others. My personal favorite of the whole episode is the opener (“Status Report”), primarily because it blends the unique language of Star Trek with actual music in a way that I personally enjoyed a lot, but Uhura’s big number (“Keep Us Connected”) and Chapel’s song (“I’m Ready”) are also real standouts.

And while the episode potentially feels a little smaller than many fans would have expected from a Star Trek musical as there are not a lot of big choreographed set pieces, that actually feels appropriate for me for this big character episode that focuses more on individual relationships rather than the ship as a whole.

“Subspace Rhapsody” is, at its heart, a character episode. It brings the Spock/Chapel relationship to its apparent conclusion, and provides some exceptional material for La’an and the emotional fallout from her relationship with the alternate James T. Kirk.

When Chapel gets accepted into a fellowship for archeological medicine run by Doctor Roger Korby — who TOS fans knows has some importance in Chapel’s life — this seems like it is the end of the road for her dalliance with Spock.

It is rewarding to see her make decisions that are for herself and not related to Spock, and after what we learned about the character’s experiences during the Klingon War in last week’s episode, it’s tough not to feel like Chapel deserves the happiness (and the career potential for her future career) that she is currently feeling. Chapel’s song is also one of the standouts of the episode, with the most advanced chorography of any of the songs and a really great musical performance from Bush.

And for Spock, it appears we have reached the end of his short-lived experiment with indulging his emotions. Chapel’s decision to leave the Enterprise for three months, which probably means bringing her relationship with Spock to a halt, drives the Vulcan science officer back to pure logic (“I’m the X”) in an effort to cure a broken heart.

Strange New Worlds has added a rich layer of complexity to the Spock/Chapel relationship from the Original Series that I have enjoyed, but everything about it has felt a tad rushed — a consequence of having only ten episodes to tell their (and all of the characters’) story.

One of the advantages of a longer season is that shows had more breathing room to allow things to develop, rather than barreling through the story before time ran out for the year. Despite that, I still think the Spock/Chapel relationship has been a rewarding arc — and I’m thinking there will be more story to tell whenever Season 3 rolls around.

But while the Spock/Chapel breakup is probably some viewers’ biggest character moment in the episode, for me La’an has the most fulfilling emotional arc of this episode. She begins the episode wanting to shut down any singing because of her fear about the emotional release it creates — but by the end of the episode, the security officer has opened herself up fully to her emotions for the first time, and reached out for connection to those around her.

“Subspace Rhapsody” also lobs a bit of an unexpected curveball which dovetails really nicely with Star Trek canon — because while Kirk feels the same connection that La’an does, his current relationship with Carol Marcus, and her pregnancy with his son, make any exploration of that connection impossible.

Ultimately, falling into bed with Kirk is not the obvious route the episode chooses to take, and consummating the romantic connection between the characters is not where the emotional benefits of this experience lie for La’an. This version of Jim Kirk is not her Kirk, but this experience has allowed her to understand that it is possible for someone to see La’an as herself — and not just part of Khan’s legacy.

We already know from the Original Series that La’an was never going to end up in a forever romantic relationship with Kirk, but the events of this episode might make such a thing possible for her with someone else. That’s very smart writing, because it creates a greater depth for the character and thinks beyond the cheap thrill of giving Kirk a romantic liaison on the Enterprise crew — and it is backed by a terrific, emotional performance from Christina Chong, an accomplished singer who threads the musical and dramatic moments of this episode together wonderfully (“How Would That Feel”).

Jim Kirk’s role this week was a wonderful one — both with La’an, and his first-officer bonding time with Una (“Connect to Your Truth”) — but it feels like the show is running out of plausible reasons to get him aboard the Enterprise. I like how Paul Wesley is portraying the future starship captain, but after four appearances in the the last two seasons, it’s time to let Kirk have his time on the Farragut.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• The soundtrack for this episode is available through many streaming services.
• The reference to the crew poofing into bunnies appears to be a wink to perhaps the most well-known musical television episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “One More With Feeling.”
• Captain Batel finally gets her first name, Marie, spoken aloud this week; it previously appeared on a screen graphic back in “Ad Astra per Aspera.”
• Kirk mentions his sometimes-relationship status with “Carol,” who of course is Carol Marcus, the Project Genesis scientist seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — and her yet-to-be-born child is Kirk’s son, David.

• The Klingon ships seen this episode were called “K’t’inga-class battlecruisers” — introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture — instead of the more period-appropriate D-7 designation.
• Spock’s diplomacy with the Klingons, which began in “The Broken Circle” and is picked up on here — and it nicely foreshadows the critical role he will play in the two civilizations’ peace process in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
• It’s nice to get another look up the Jeffries Tube shaft, using current-day visual effects to let us see the rest of the tube in the way that The Original Series could only hint at.
• The Klingon general aboard the boy-band warship was played by Bruce Horak, who portrayed Hemmer last season (and again in this year’s “Lost in Translation”)

“Subspace Rhapsody” is Star Trek at its most experimental, and it is to be applauded and enjoyed and supported for that. The cast and crew clearly had a blast making this episode, and their infectious joy seeps through the whole episode to make it a rewarding affair.

Coupled with some compelling character work, a few very catchy songs, and boy band Klingons, this musical outing is a triumph. I don’t think a reprise of this format would work as well as the first, but I hope Strange New Worlds never stops taking risks.

900 episodes of Star Trek later, the franchise continues to find new ways to tell stories.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 concludes with “Hegemony” next Thursday, August 10 on Paramount+.