While the last two episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy focused on setting up Gwyn’s life-altering temporal paradox, these next two entries turn their attention to a big complicating factor: the mysterious entity that’s been offering help… and leaving confusing messages for our crew to decipher.
The result is two fun ship-wide adventures that expand the puzzle’s clues enough for our heroes to formulate one of their famous cockamamie plans, sending them on the next phase of this journey in a quite familiar way.
The opening sequence in “Observer’s Paradox” is in the form of intermingled interrogation scenes, which has become something of a modern Trek staple. It is used to great effect here as a recap of the road so far. It’s a great way to help the episode stand alone in future rewatches — sometimes you might not want to do a full season rewatch, but might just want to watch the “Aquatic Murf Episode” again!
The interrogations are done particularly well, with lots of humor from the questioned and great exasperated looks from the questioners. My kids got a taste of what I’ve been experiencing with all the great Trek callbacks when Dal (Brett Grey) tries coffee and says, “Mmm this is way better with sugar!” They all laughed and my daughter said “Remember, Mom? He spit it out last time!” (I’m very lucky to have her here to explain all these references to me!)
The Voyager-A observation lounge is a really sleek set, with lots of beautiful LCARS panels and a long modern conference table. I really enjoy the scenes with Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her senior staff; listening to adults calmly discussing issues is soothingly Trek-esque. I’m glad this scene in particular exists, showing that Janeway holds no animosity to the Protostar crew for the wormhole accident. A less-understanding captain might not be able to show such perspective here, but she shares the responsibility for what happened like the true leader she is — and her senior staff follows her lead. I love that.
It was a real treat also in this scene to get some animation to animation love with the EMH’s (Robert Picardo) shout-out to the crew of the USS Cerritos from Star Trek: Lower Decks. Here’s hoping we get to see just why the Doctor thinks they are so dysfunctional in that show’s upcoming fifth season!)
Prodigy updates the ‘M’ in ‘EMH’ to mean ‘mentor’ in this episode, as we get some classic Doctor verbiage. His “AAAH” program sounds like a self-help descendant of his social lessons with Seven of Nine, and he becomes an easy mark for distraction when Zero (Angus Imrie) asks to hear more about his latest holonovel. (Bringing this back as a plot point in “Imposter Syndrome” was an unexpected great touch.)
Zero’s line about the Doc being called away “probably to add more Rodrigos to his holonovel” was such a great snide EMH burn that it sounded like something that could have come straight out of Tom Paris’s mouth. I guffawed.
The dialogue throughout this entire episode is particularly snappy — even for Prodigy, which is generally a really tight show. “Observer’s Paradox” is the first episode credited to writer Jennifer Muro and we will see this trend continue through the other episodes this season she has penned. She brings a breezy, cool vibe to her writing that elevates the show in an interesting way.
Our crew needed to distract the doc because they are on “restricted access” after everything that happened; we catch up to them grumbling about it in the mess hall like the principal gave them a detention. Poor Zero gets blown off by Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) who chooses to sit at the Nova Squadron “cool kids” table instead of with our crew. A Voyager mess hall hasn’t felt this much like a high school cafeteria since Paris and Neelix’s ridiculous spaghetti fight!
Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) stealing things from the gang while they talk was cute and the spiral he crafts out of his bounty leads the group to reconcile the individual messages they have all received from this mysterious entity. The mystery of Murf’s language is one that Prodigy has been ripe to explore for a while, so having this excuse to do it is a great way to make it count. And it’s such a fun ride!
Ella Purnell’s adorable delivery of Murf’s various oots and ooms — and Jankom’s (Jason Mantzoukas) universal translator run amok — were delightful false starts before bringing in their big gun: Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui).
More snappy dialogue, as in a really fun aside Dal and Gwyn take the time to appreciate Rok-Tahk and her scientific process:
Dal: “Oh I love this part! She gets that look when she’s close to a breakthrough.”
Gwyn: “Shh! She’s hypothesizing!”
Prodigy is such a celebration of people using their brains to solve problems. It’s refreshing — and it’s a real treat to finally get to see Cetacean Ops, as its plot relevance really drives home how it’s a working part of the ship (and not just a cool easter egg).
The control room is sparse with just a few LCARS stations, which is great because it doesn’t distract from the real lure: the expansive wrap around windows into the enormous tank of water, where Gillian the humpback whale lives — named of course after her species’ caretaker. And the homage to the greatest Star Trek movie of all time doesn’t stop there, as Rok-Tahk uses the idea that whale song sounds different underwater as a framework for her hypothesis about Murf. Spock would be so proud of her!
Rok-Tahk goes with Murf down to the water’s entry point and they jump in together. The underwater animation is really well done, both through the windows and inside the tank. Rok sinks in exactly the way you would expect a rock person to sink. A hug for luck is a sweet touch as Murf swims away… and transforms into a ethereally beautiful sea creature with a delicate tail and fins, bathed in a magical glow.
At this, my daughter let out a squeal of delight, the frequency of which made it only easily understood underwater. Murf’s first transformation last season got mixed reviews from my kids, at least until they got used to the “new” Murf. This transformation was a unanimous winner right away. An incredible surprise, executed perfectly. Murf and Gillian together is such a moment of pure Star Trek joy: we aren’t participants, but observers, of this unique communication between two vastly different life forms from different planets coming together and all we can do is just relax and take in the beauty of it all. A special scene.
As an aside, Murf’s new look took me back to my own childhood in the 1980s when the My Little Pony people invented “sea ponies” in a cynical attempt to sell more toys. Upon watching this episode, I suddenly wished Prodigy had that problem. I would pay a lot of money to get my hands on an “aquatic Murf” action figure (Gillian sold separately of course).
Anyway, now we seemingly have all the pieces of the puzzle, as Gwyn and Dal found the spiral in the database: a petroglyph from Chakotay’s heritage (tying back to “Tattoo” of all episodes!). And Murf adds “FIND ME” (Dal’s “Fin-dee me” made me laugh) and quantum coordinates. Gwyn bravely sets her temporal stabilizer to the coordinates and disappears.
Beautiful animation and direction as her Contact-esque experience elicits the same mix of panic and awe as Dr. Ellie Arroway’s trip through the cosmos in that film. After receiving the next, more ominous, message — “FIND ME BEFORE THEY DO” — Gwyn snaps back into our universe and knows where they have to go to find the source of the messages.
Meanwhile, as Tysess (Daveed Diggs) says, “strange things are afoot” at the Circle K in the cargo bay as Janeway and the senior staff wonder about the mysterious entity as well , while looking at the Infinity and it’s mysteriously-restored power. (A great some kind of here: a cascading photovoltaic loop.)
Janeway then gets orders from Admiral Buzzkill to collapse the wormhole. Jellico is the worst, but of course actor Ronny Cox continues to be the best at being the worst. The collapse of the wormhole, and seemingly all hope of finding Chakoay, is given the affecting moment it deserves: the bridge crew stands to honor both Chakotay and how Janeway must be feeling at this moment.
The memory Janeway has of the petrogliph, a gift from Chakotay, among her fabulous collection of easter eggs. The inclusion of a touch of a compact mirror, a nod to Kirsten Beyer’s story “Isabo’s Shirt” in Distant Shores (and to J/C shippers) as this was also a gift from Chakotay.
Kate Mulgrew does a beautiful job of meeting the gravity of the moment as, for the only time in all her years of playing Katherine Janeway, she lets her voice quiver when she gives the order to close the wormhole. But we can’t give up on Chakotay yet, not when both the Voyager-A senior staff and the Protostar gang wonder if he just might be our mysterious entity.
Under the guise of astrometrics homework (“I can’t believe he fell for that!” my daughter laughed, when the EMH leaves them to it), the gang determine where in the galaxy the mysterious entity wants them to go and formulate a plan to get there. As is their way, they are going to “borrow” another ship — this time, the Infinity.
“Imposter Syndrome” opens with the seemingly nonsensical situation of the Protostar crew attacking Dal. My kids guessed that it was a dream until the “24 hours earlier” popped onto the screen. Ooh, I love the in medias res trope! My kids perked up at that as well — I’m not sure if they’ve ever encountered that particular plot device before, but they were into it. They thought it was really cool when we finally “caught up” to the beginning.
The idea of the holo-duplicates really shines. Rok-Tahk “tidying up the code” is a good enough excuse to me why they are so convincing (she’s definitely their science genius!). The who’s-who hijinks last just the right amount of time to maintain their maximum humor without the joke getting old. Dal vs. Dal, Jankom vs. Jankom, and Rok-Tahk plus Rok-Tahk are all interesting and enjoyable takes on meeting your double.
The solution is a simple one — that is, when you have two Roks working together! — and it’s fun to see the shipwide holoemitter reset affect the EMH and the criminally underutilized Dr. Noum (Jason Alexander). However, I was disappointed when he asked the holodeck for a tropical retreat and we didn’t get to revisit Voyager‘s luau program.
(There just might have been a disconnect somewhere, in either time or budget, because instead of a tropical retreat the Tellarite was enjoying the same creekside country setting seen in last season’s chicken/fox/grain puzzle.)
We were treated to another familiar locale however as Rok recreated the Protostar in the holodeck because “It’s just easier to think here”. A lovely nod to her alone time in “Time Amok,” as this was her home for we don’t know how long, as she taught herself science.
The senior staff is cramping their style with all their support, as Janeway gives the gang a pep talk that is suspiciously faith of the heart-y while both organic and photonic crews are on the deck. Tysess gives them a support speech as well when he runs into Dal and Gwyn scouting, and inadvertently gives them the info they need to steal the Infinity. His hearty laugh is one of the best things I’ve heard so far this season, and this Andorian is becoming a low-key favorite character.
It’s the EMH, though, that could really thwart their plans — as the hologram corners the group as they rush to make it to the Infinity in time. Luckily, Maj’el proves herself as one of the team after all as she takes a deep breath… and inquires about opera lessons. I truly love that they distracted the Doctor like this two episodes in a row; he is such an easy mark and it’s hilarious. Maj’el and Zero’s psychic connection is wonderful, and I can not help but ship it.
One masked emergency-transport signal and some mixed-up holograms later, and our crew is blasting off on a ship by themselves again. It feels right!
Stay tuned for our next Star Trek: Prodigy review, covering Season 2’s “The Fast and the Curious” and “Is There in Beauty No Truth?” in a few days!
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is available to stream now on Netflix globally (excluding-Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Mainland China). The show can also be viewed on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe.