For the review for S01E01: Strange New Worlds, go here.
Uhura partakes in her first away mission – In this week’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, entitled Children of the Comet, Cadet Uhura is the central focus as she attempts to determine whether she has a future in Starfleet. After being tricked by Ortegas into wearing her dress uniform, Uhura attends the crew dinner, where she is warmly greeted by Number One, who applauds her for her outfit choice.
The cadet is also acquainted with Hemmer, the Aenar Chief Engineer, who, despite being blind, has incredible reflexes, as Spock mentions after it’s revealed that they were hazing her by pretending she’d offended Hemmer given his impairment. During dinner, Uhura opens up about how she knows dozens of languages – this is a retcon of Uhura in the original series and a nod to Zoë Saldana’s Uhura in the JJ Abrams films.
A great addition here is that Uhura speaks Andorian to Hemmer and then Vulcan to Spock as a demonstration of her skills and annoyance. This is similar to how Amy Wong (from Futurama) will often curse in Cantonese.
We also learn about her backstory and how her parents and brother were killed. Her love of languages inspired her to want to know more, and her grandmother was her primary inspiration for joining Starfleet.
Uhura is quickly becoming a well-rounded character, and it’s only been two episodes. What was interesting about Children of the Comet is her ability to bond with Spock and understand him similarly to Pike. If anything, they inspire each other at various points.
Children Of The Comet: Friendship Edition
Speaking of Spock, Uhura teaches him a few things about humour. First, Uhura teases Spock about Chapel’s flirtations with him on the away mission to the comet with Sam Kirk (Jim Kirk’s brother) and La’an. Confused, Spock says that Chapel isn’t his girlfriend.
Uhura explains she’s joking while he gives her a version of a pep talk. He admits he’s been learning how to give them. This is funny because it backs up what his sister, Michael, says in Discovery Season 2 about how Vulcans “don’t do funny.” Given she’s a human being raised on Vulcan, it’s understandable that Spock wouldn’t understand the concept of humour very well, despite himself being half-human. After all, his father insisted he is raised as Vulcan as possible.
What’s interesting is Uhura’s instinct to ask Spock questions. She asks him after the dinner party if she had blown her first impression on Pike. He doesn’t hesitate to regale her with the truth; the captain is all about honesty, and she passed that test.
Pike And Number One Talk About Boreth
Children of the Comet brings up Pike’s potential crippling a decade in the future again. This time, Pike speaks with Number One about where he mentions the kids who will be killed. He recalls their names as he has them embedded in his memory.
Number One points out that perhaps the future isn’t concrete and refuses to accept his admission that there is no other future.
This was interesting for a couple of reasons. The first is that Spock was the first individual to talk with Pike about this in the previous episode. Secondly, it sounds like this ‘secret’ could be revealed to the Enterprise crew. However, how long could this be kept a secret?
We know that we’ll get Jim Kirk next season, but it’s unlikely he’ll be the Enterprise’s captain. He’s not scheduled to take the helm for another few years. It has been said in videos on the subject that Jim is captaining another ship. Also, we already have one Kirk onboard with Sam.
Music Woman
While on the comet, Uhura discovers that it communicates via music. She hums a tune, and the comet responds. When La’an refuses to join in, Spock steps up, and the song from the comet is recorded.
Meanwhile, the remaining bridge crew are faced with the Shepard people threatening to destroy them if they touch the comet. After scanning the ship, Number One and Ortegas reveal to Pike that it is far more superior than the Enterprise and could wipe them out.
After the incident is resolved, Uhura reveals that the comet had foresight.
This was an exciting episode, though it was hard to understand from a story standpoint, given we’re not scientific. But, again, though, we’re not going to fault it for that.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs weekly on Paramount+.
