IR TV Review: STAR TREK - STRANGE NEW WORLDS - EPISODE 4 (“Memento Mori”) [Paramount+]

The best textures of "Star Trek" lore is when elements are broken back to basics. This many times means fear and survival when miracles can happen because there are people thinking outside the box. Episode 4 of "Strange New Worlds": "Memento Mori" works this very well employing many of the beautiful submarine warfare textures that made "Wrath Of Khan" so unique. This time though it is a different stellar phenomena and an interesting foe. Again, the great thing that the series does is give each character a different amount of time and focus for the episode. This slowing down for character beats is truly what elevates this show compared to others because it lets the characters be even though there is a different challenge each week. You only love the characters because they fail, they love, they remind you of someone.

Here it is bathed (in a different way than Episode 3) with Lt. Noonien Singh relapsing with memories on a colony ship and a specific threat which comes back into focus. The way the scenes are played and especially the way Mount responds especially in one scene to something in the cargo bay is a level of vulnerability we haven't see with many captains. We saw glimpses at times with Shatner as Kirk when he allowed his character in the original series to just be. Pike is a much more feeling captain and as a result much more bound to mistakes. Mount also knows how to float in a scene. Scott Bakula as Archer always played the character too pointed but organic in his own way. Every character on that bridge feeds Pike's beating heart and they want to do better for him. This is even prevalent in Spock which Ethan Peck has to keep close to the vest. This all said, the strategy is really effectively done (because in most ways the enemy is not seen). The special effects in this episode are also simply outstanding which creating sequences like this even a few years ago would have been too complicated for TV yet here they feel visceral and smooth. A

By Tim Wassberg