In order to play Spock, one needn’t imitate the original, iconic performance by the late Leonard Nimoy. There are, however, key elements to the character that an actor must embody to pull off the charade. One, an actor must learn to communicate a lot with a little: a gesture, a timely eyebrow raise, a verbal caesura. Two, it’s important that the actor never forgets it’s not that Spock lacks emotion but rather he feels emotions intensely but is constantly suppressing them. Then of course there’s the third trait an actor must remember when playing Enterprise’s resident half-human/half-Vulcan: remember that Spock is really funny.
In much the same way that Michael Dorn’s Worf was The Next Generation‘s secret, unsung comedic super weapon, Leonard Nimoy was at the center of much of The Original Series‘ best comedic moments like when he responded to Captain Kirk saying he’d make a splendid computer with “That’s very kind of you, Captain.”
So it is with Strange New World‘s Ethan Peck, whose comedy chops appeared on full display in season one’s body-swapping farce, “Spock Amok.” I’ve also already praised Peck for some of season two’s funniest moments. Now comes “Charades,” which at times reaches a level of madcap, screwball romantic comedy that feels like a spiritual sequel to “Spock Amok,” both in terms of tone and in its focus on the Spock/T’Pring/Chapel love triangle.
Star Trek has always had many flavors. Sometimes it’s a serious morality play or courtroom drama that interrogates our sense of justice or what it means to be human. Other times it may be a big action spectacle or a monster story. “Charades” is Star Trek as sitcom. We begin with a classic fish-out-of-water conceit with Spock suddenly experiencing life as a full human for the first time.
It eventually morphs into an almost reverse fish-out-of-water scenario merged with a comedy of manners as Spock becomes embroiled in a ruse to now — at his least Vulcan — try to pass himself off as, if possible, even more so than ever to impress his future mother-in-law who already viewed him as deficient. And no sooner does Spock begin to figure out how to be human than he finds himself being taught by his friends and human mother how to successfully pass for Vulcan.
How well this screwball comedy works for you, I suppose mileage may vary. Some audiences want only serious Trek with end-of-the-universe stakes. Certainly some will probably raise objections about how a Spock who’s experienced several days as a full human years before ever serving under Captain Kirk tracks canonically when that original iteration of the character started out completely confounded by almost every aspect of humanity.
Personally, I’m long past caring about nitpicky canon issues. This show is a prequel and is bound to break or bend all sorts of established canon before it ends. As long as doing so is in service of a good story and richer characters, I’m fine with violating the established canon from time to time. Lord knows this franchise has done so many times before. Just two weeks ago, Strange New Worlds even fixed a long-established canonical problem with a retcon that reconciles the timeline of The Eugenics Wars that were established in The Original Series to have occurred during the 1990s only to be later reestablished as taking place sometime in the mid-21st Century.
Jess Bush as Christine Chapel (Paramount+)
“Charades” is also, to a lesser extent, a Nurse Chapel episode. The plot involving her interview for The Vulcan Science Academy Fellowship certainly gives her a bit more to do outside of her relationship with Spock, but this is still the episode’s biggest weakness. Up until now, Jess Bush has been just crushing it and doing an amazing job of making her Christine Chapel a likable presence on screen despite not being given much to work with beyond her will-they-won’t-they dance with Spock.
And much like last week’s “Among the Lotus Eaters” teased at its outset an even bigger focus on the previously under-utilized Ortegas than it ultimately delivered, “Charades” begins with Chapel only to pivot to a much more Spock-centric story. It’s a shame the writers haven’t yet discovered what a talent they have in Jess Bush, and I look forward to them figuring that out in the future.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the guest characters. Mia Kirshner reprises her role from Discovery as Spock’s mother, Amanda Grayson, and does a wonderful job with both the comedic moments as well as the more heartfelt ones. And Ellora Patniak’s T’Pril perfectly embodies the impossible-to-please matriarch of T’Pring’s family and may even hint at how T’Pring evolves into the woman who will pit Spock and Kirk against each other in “Amok Time” to get out of her union with Spock.
But perhaps the unsung hero of this episode was Michael Benyaer as T’Pring’s sheepish father, Sevet. While Spock desperately struggles to measure up to some Vulcan stereotype, Sevet reminds us there is no perfect Vulcan and the standard Spock is reaching for is entirely illusory. Sevet prefers Pike’s attempt at Vulcan cooking to the traditional but is too afraid of what even his own wife, let alone anyone else, might think about him for expressing that. It’s a lovely variation on the episode’s theme told through just a few call-back jokes.
Gia Sandhu as T’Pring, Ethan Peck as Spock, Ellora Patniak as T’Pril, Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson and Michael Benyaer as Sevet (Paramount+)
Comedy has always been hit-and-miss with Star Trek. For every “The Trouble with Tribbles” there’s a “Move Along Home.” And as much as I loved The Next Generation, its writers were usually terrible when they attempted broad comedy.
The most consistent laughs came from one-liners, usually delivered by either Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, or Jonathan Frakes like when Riker chastised Worf for his outmoded, sexist attitude for complaining about having to wear a dress uniform he felt was insufficiently manly only to punctuate it by smiling and telling Worf, “Besides, you look good in a dress.”
By and large, the Strange New Worlds writers are far better in the comedy department, and “Charades” is likely to stand out as one of Star Trek‘s better comedy episodes thanks to a solid premise built on a deep understanding of both the characters and the history of the franchise as well as great performances from the entire cast.
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