IR TV Review: STAR TREK - STRANGE NEW WORLDS - EPISODE 6 (“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”) [Paramount+]

The context that balances Star Trek is sometimes trying not to become too preachy when some lessons do need to be hit over the head a little. Want and desire is an imbalance that pertains specifically to humans but in a way, it can be thwarted by memory. That is what befalls Captain Pike in a way in Episode 6: "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach". Like certain episodes (more so of TNG), the moral conscience of what should be done is placed in the intersection of real world values. Here in many ways it goes back to the Spock milieu: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one". Without giving too much of the plot away, the divergence is key to the survival of a planet which, in many ways, seems perfect and evolved in its thinking. The woman that is helping to shepherd a messiah of sorts is perfectly sane and perfect for Pike. Yet the tug of conscience pulls at him, much like it pulled at Picard.

The interesting parallel (and this could be said of Jim Kirk as well) is that most of the captains keep people at arms length (at least emotionally) because what comes first is always duty, not family...and yet it is always darkly (or even lightly) present in the back of their minds. The good aspect of the episode is that it shows that progression is not absolute and even in the most devout there can be a kernel of doubt which can lead to change. This has happened in many wars on Earth and surely will occur in many moreto come despite what we currently think in terms of evolved thinking. Eventually the resolution here comes down to Pike's barometer and what Starfleet represents. And that adherence will keep him both integral, filled with integrity and yet alone despite his best efforts, at times, to connect. B

By Tim Wassberg