Strange New Worlds Season 2 Ep 4 is the fourth instalment of the second season of an American scifi space opera television drama created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. A spin-off of the Discovery series, Strange New Worlds features the USS Enterprise captained by Christopher Pike and set a decade before the events in the original Star Trek TV series.
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Entitled “Among the Lotus Eaters”, Strange New Worlds Season 2 Ep 4 is a bit of a disappointment after the highs of the previous two episodes. In that respect, it is an average instalment rather like the first episode of this season. That said, there are still enough factors to keep Trek fans engaged.
Perhaps the fact that the premise is based on the Greek myth of the Lotus Eaters (hence the title) where the Lotus Eaters would forget their home and loved ones, and only long to stay with their fellow lotus-eaters, upon consumption of the plant in question.
In this episode, the USS Enterprise returns to Rigel 7 but the away team (Pike, Noonien Singh and M’Benga) discovers that unusual properties of an asteroid that crashed on the planet caused memory loss. Only inhabitants in the palace would retain memories, which included former crewman Zac Nguyen, the current ruler of the planet. Despite being affected by the memory loss, the away team struggles against the odds to make it back to the palace, regain their memories and resolve the situation.
In the final analysis, Strange New Worlds Season 2 Ep 4 is about the relationship between our identity and memories, and serves as character development for Pike as he rethinks his relationship with Captain Batel, treasuring the recovery of his memories, and the realisation of how close he came to losing himself on Rigel 7. An average episode, at best.
Now streaming on Amazon | Read our analyses of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
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