In two of the most beautiful and unexpected episodes of the season, Star Trek: Prodigy takes a satisfying detour through an emotional journey framed by a deserted island castaway adventure.
The entire promise of the “finding Chakotay” plot that has permeated both seasons is realized in these two episodes in touching and unanticipated ways. The two-part “Last Flight of the Protostar” brings both Chakotay and the Protostar back into play while showing us sides of both the man and the ship we’ve never seen.
Part I opens with a bleak montage of Chakotay’s (Robert Beltran) repetitive days stranded on the unforgiving planet of Ysida. Ysida itself is stark and eerily beautiful — the color pallet unique and striking, with bold reds, deep purples, and greys. Day in and day out, he takes care of his basic needs, living off of fruit and eel eggs, polishing his solar collectors and literally whittling away his time. Until today, when he captures our Protostar gang in a net trap. It’s then that we learn he’s been marooned on this planet for ten years.
Ten years. That’s longer than he was in the Delta Quadrant! And that was, of course, in infinitely better conditions. What a bold choice for Prodigy to make — as it seems like a really harsh fate for someone we know and love. But because we know him, we know Chakotay can handle anything. And this version of Chakotay is arguably the best we’ve ever seen.
He’s older and wiser, a little bit grizzled, a man determined to live out his life alone as the caretaker of the Vau N’Akat weapon, heroically giving up himself to save the Federation. He’s awesome. (And as an aside, this isn’t even the worst fate modern Trek has delivered to someone we care about. I still haven’t recovered from what Picard did to poor Icheb!)
The kids tell Chakotay the whole time-bending story, and he either doesn’t believe them — or isn’t ready to process it all — so he tells them ‘No!’ and leaves them to fend for themselves in the impending ion storm. There’s also the small matter of the protodrive and warp drive fuel being ejected… so even if he did want to help, the ship can’t fly. We get a chance to see the power of this planet during the ion storm with terrible lighting and strong wind as the kids seek shelter. Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) shames Chakotay into letting them in by invoking the memory of Adreek: “He would have let them in”.
Seeing Holo-Janeway again is incredibly comforting, given her eventual/previous fate — and also as a relief that Chakotay wasn’t completely alone for all these years. I did have to give my youngest a temporal mechanics refresher, as she was confused how Holo-Janeway was still alive, but that wasn’t due to any lacking in the episode. The dialogue actually did a nice job of explaining just where everyone exists in the timeline, with the kids so happy to see her and her not yet knowing them.
We find out that Adreek — Chakotay’s first officer — had a plan to try to collect some antimatter, and the crew decides they have to get both the ship and its curmudgeonly captain ready to try to get the Protostar aloft again. We are treated to a lovely montage of the crew engaged in getting the ship back into shape while Chakotay slowly melts as he witnesses them working together.
When Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) squeegees himself across the window, it becomes clear what is actually happening here: that they are the ones who get the Protostar into the pristine condition we know they find it in. That this ship has been through a lot more than we realized by the time it’s eventually found on Tars Lamora. That they have earned this ship in more ways than one. Knowing all this deepens season one and I can’t wait to rewatch “Lost and Found” in particular knowing what I know now.
Dal (Brett Gray) gets lost during the next ion storm and we know Chakotay is back to his old self as he immediately goes looking for him. He, Gwyn, Jankom, and “the blobby guy” go off in the newly-fixed Runaway. The vehicle once again delivers some really dynamic action as the Runaway zooms around the red dunes and down into the vast array of tunnels (in hovercraft mode!). They zoom around dodging some really impressive looking graboid/molduga/sandworm type creatures that fit perfectly with the aesthetic of this P-class nightmare of a planet.
They find Dal, and in an incredibly somber moment, Adreek. For how little we got to know Adreek, he loomed large over Prodigy as Chakotay’s Number One. At first it was partially due to his unique looks (It doesn’t get much cooler than a birdman!) but then when we got to meet him properly in “Who Saves the Saviors,” his wry personality and heroic attitude cemented him as a favorite.
When his skeleton came on screen, my daughter gasped. We all felt his loss. Robert Beltran’s heartfelt performance made us feel the depth of Chakotay’s loss too. We soon find out that Adreek died as he lived: a Starfleet hero. He managed to rig up some kind of lightning rod and was able to harness the energy of the storms to collect antimatter. Way to go, feathered friend.
Chakotay is fully on board now and ready to try to get the Protostar to fly again. Part 1 ends with the best setup line, that Adreek knew “before this ship could fly, first it has to sail.” My jaw dropped at that reveal of what has to come next to get the Protostar off of Ysida. I was surprised when Part I ended after that most intriguing statement because it absolutely flew by. The entire episode was riveting and I was completely captivated by the emotional payoffs and setbacks finally finding Chakotay introduced to the season.
Composer Nami Melumad just absolutely out does herself in this two-parter. The music ebbs and flows along with the emotional highs and lows — like so many waves on the vapor sea — making the character moments feel even more intimate and the action moments even more epic. A beautiful companion and guide on this journey.
Part II finds our heroes modifying the Protostar into a sailing ship worthy of sailing through the high density vapor ocean of Ysida. Their destination is the eye of a gigantic storm where Holo-Janeway has detected a large concentration of the deuterium they need for the matter/antimatter reaction that powers the warp drive.
I. Love. This. Plan! What a cool and different adventure for a Star Trek crew and their ship to embark on. Such a romantic notion to turn the Protostar from a starship into, as Dal puts it, “a ship-ship,” while Chakotay declares it the HMS Protostar in a nice touch.
After a quick lesson on simple machines (“Give me a lever and a place to stand and I can move the world!”), she is in the vapor and they are sailing. Just wonderful nautical language and imagery as Captain Chakotay gives everyone orders while they navigate the sea. I could watch the Protostar floating on this sea of clouds with its rigging and gorgeous solar collector forward sail forever. What an absolute delight!
Dal makes a mistake and gets demoted from the jib to rope coiling duties. This leads to what might possibly be my favorite scene in all of Prodigy. Dal and Chakotay sit on the edge of the ship and have a moving heart-to-heart chat. Chakotay talks about his history, familiar to us, about how he felt the same way when he was Dal’s age and he joined the Maquis — but he never felt like he truly belonged until Voyager.
He gives him some great advice: “Whenever you’re feeling lost, it’s best to find where you’re needed most.” This quiet little moment of connection — this poignant conversation between two characters we love — is the best sort of reason to bring back these legacy characters. And Prodigy has done some of the best work of all the newer shows in making their returns worthwhile and meaningful.
And then? Back to the action, as the ship has reached the storm. It’s too much to fight and they get caught circling the eye. The rudder is stuck and, luckily, Gwyn (Ella Purnell) was paying attention when we learned about levers earlier so she has the idea that they operate it manually just long enough for the Bussard collectors to do their thing and collect the deuterium they need.
They all go up to the rudder with their levers, and the plan works. Listen to those Bussard collectors hum! But Jankom’s (Jason Mantzoukas) joy of having gas as the deuterium tanks fill is short lived as Chakotay falls overboard. There’s no hesitation from Dal as he grabs the rope and jumps in after him, with a few tense moments until Dal’s quick thinking gets them back onboard via hitching a ride from an eel — and then it’s just sheer joy as everyone is ok and warp and impulse drives are online.
I felt caught up in their excitement watching as Dal calls it our ship and relays Chakotay’s advice back to him: “we just went where we were needed most.” Could I be any more proud of him? Of Chakotay? Of the rest of the gang? Could I love this two-parter any more?
The Protostar is back in space. Unfortunately, the Voyager-A is 3,000 light years away. But no biggie, as they vow to get the protodrive working. The confidence on Dal here is earned this time, as he gives a great closing line: “We just rebuilt a starship, so let’s go build a star.” It’s such a great setup for what’s next on the agenda, and I can’t wait to find out the “how” of this part.
I haven’t even mentioned the fantastic and surprising Gates McFadden cameo! It certainly looks like we are definitely going down the path of intersection with what we learned about the Crusher family in Picard. It’s a lovely conversation between two wonderful women. The emphasis on Janeway being like a mother to the Protostar crew adds depth to Chakotay becoming somewhat of a fatherly figure, as in his “father-son” heart-to-heart chat with Dal. The idea of them “co-parenting” in that way is one I’d really like to explore more.
“The Last Flight of the Protostar” feels like an emotional interlude in the middle of the season but it’s more than just that. It’s integral in advancing the plot to get both Chakotay and the Protostar back into action. It’s unique to slow it down this way, to let it breathe and to allow us the time necessary to get to know Chakotay again and — for the younger viewers and the Protostar crew — for the first time.
Giving them such a sublime adventure together in which to bond feels like Star Trek stripped down to it’s basics. A special episode that will be remembered as one of the best of the modern era.
Stay tuned for our next Star Trek: Prodigy review, covering Season 2’s “A Tribble Called Quest” and “Cracked Mirror” in the days ahead!
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.
