Pike attempts to alter his future. It’s the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season One finale, and Christopher Pike is on a mission to change his fate. However, when his alternate future self visits him, he has to go live through the altered event, which changes everything. There was so much going on in this episode, and some details set up what happened during Season Two. More on that later. Please be advised this post does contain spoilers. Also, the episode ‘A Quality of Mercy‘ is an alternate version of the TOS episode, ‘Balance of Terror‘, as it plays on the same story beats with a few changes.
Since his time on Boreth during Star Trek: Discovery Season Two, Pike has wrestled with knowing what his future holds. Longtime Star Trek fans will know that the famed Starfleet captain is heavily disfigured.
What Happens On Boreth, Stays On Boreth
The only people aware of what happened on Boreth are Una (Number One) and Spock. This is given their association with the Discovery crew. The alternate Christopher Pike, who becomes Rear Admiral, returns his younger self to the past. Unfortunately, this stops him from writing to the cadets who died during the training exercise, which makes Pike disfigured.
What’s more, the future is so much worse. While the cadets are saved, members of the Enterprise crew are casualties. Spock, who loses a leg and a ton of blood, much to the grief of Nurse Chapel, becomes a fatality.
Alternate Jim Kirk
James T. Kirk’s involvement with the story was the most unexpected part. Pike consults Jim’s older brother, Sam, who tells him that his brother is a pain in the ass. He excels at everything he does and hates losing. This is fascinating as we’ve never seen the Kirk brothers interact onscreen. We’ll address this later as we want to address an interview Paul Wesley did.
We must admit that it was a little jarring to see Jim this early in the series. However, given the alternate future, it makes sense, as in the TOS episode we mentioned, ‘Balance of Terror’ has Jim as a focal point. However, his role is switched with Pike in SNW. We also see who Sam, Jim’s brother, is in this timeline.
Sam Raises A Few Points About Jim
As Sam points out, Jim is bold and takes a different direction than expected. Also, given that he is never assigned to the Enterprise, he doesn’t know Spock as well as he does in the prime timeline. This brings us to Paul’s interview.
In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paul said that the version of Jim we see in the SNW Season finale is one we’ve never seen. Moreover, it doesn’t exist, given the alternate future aspect. What’s interesting is he said he had freedom with the alternate Jim. However, he added that in Season 2, Jim would be closer to WilliamShatner’s interpretation. Also, we may see the brothers interact as we don’t in the finale.
Nods To Other Star Trek Properties
The ‘A Quality of Mercy’ episode page on the Memory Alpha Fandom site (link above) lists references to continuity to the other properties. First, however, we wanted to go over the ones we noticed.
So, we first wanted to point out the USS Farragut. We’re not diehard fans, but we remembered the Farragut was the ship that alternate reality Uhura was assigned to by Spock before she had a go at him and demanded she is reassigned to the Enterprise in the 2009 Star Trek. It was also the ship her roommate Gaila was assigned to before it was destroyed. However, Gaila’s status was left unknown.
During Jim’s conversation with Pike, he mentions he grew up in Iowa, and his father, George Snr, served on the USS Kelvin. As we know, Iowa was always a part of Jim’s origin; the Kelvin aspect is new. George Senior was never a part of TOS outside of the one-off appearance of Sam, who appeared as a corpse, having shared his first name. Also, George Snr was not mentioned in the original series.
George Kirk Information
The George Kirk Memory Alpha page depicts that the character’s appearance in the 2009 Star Trek gives insight into who the character might’ve been in the prime timeline. For example, Spock Prime [Leonard Nimoy] mentions George as Jim’s inspiration for joining Starfleet in the same film. It references how George was present when Jim was given his captaincy of the Enterprise.
The final point we wanted to address is Scotty. The voice is Scotty is heard talking to Spock in the Jeffries Tubes while the half-Vulcan is trying to get the warp drive back online.
What The Back Half Of Strange New Worlds Season One Teases For Season Two
To wrap this post up, we wanted to explore what the back half of Season One teased for Season Two.
The big one is Kirk making a proper appearance during Season Two. To what capacity is still up in the air at the moment. However, we’ll probably find out more as the season approaches its premiere date.
The alternate future Pike finds himself in has Spock as his Number One. Una is referenced throughout the experience, but Pike has to ask someone what happened to her. It’s explained that she was arrested due to her being an Illyrian. This comes to fruition at the end of the finale. However, it is unclear how Starfleet found out what she was. Una’s arrest may be explored further in Season Two.
Will Sybok Appear In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two?
The introduction of Spock’s half-brother, Sybok, to Strange New Worlds was a massive surprise. However, there was no continuation of that storyline. This is what T’Pring’s involvement is outside of what was seen in ‘The Serene Squall’. The episode also clarified that Sybok was born out of wedlock, but it did not elaborate on whether Sarek was married to Amanda upon his conception. It could be possible that Season Two will go deeper into this and what the consequences were for Sarek.
This might explain why Sybok is not listed on Spock’s Starfleet record. On the other hand, we know why Michael isn’t listed as she is now in the future. Also, we want to ask whether Sybok’s potential appearance could mean Sarek and Amanda pop up.
Finally, we reach Scotty. His voice is heard in the alternate future could mean he becomes Hemmer’s replacement as Head Engineer.
