This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
When I first learned that a Tony Award nominee was cast to play Nyota Uhura on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds it first crossed my mind that, in 50+ years, Star Trek never did a full-on musical episode. Now that time has finally come and, sure enough, Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura is at its center.
A musical episode probably wouldn’t have worked on most of the other Trek series because this is a franchise that has often focused more on the missions than on the characters’ personal lives. Deep Space Nine seems like the only previous show with developed enough relationships to build a musical off of, but I’m not sure if any of its cast had a musical background. Strange New World‘s lighter tone, combined with its willingness to take big swings — especially in season two — as evidenced by the recent Lower Decks crossover, makes it the ideal choice to experiment with a bold, campy musical episode.
I’m not the right person to judge the individual song and dance performances of each actor here, but unsurprisingly, Gooding was the clear standout. Writers Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff wisely saved their solo “Keep Us Connected” for late in the story and then tasked Uhura with leading the big ensemble finale to save the day.
Jess Bush is also well served here. Earlier this season, I expressed some frustration with the writer’s limiting Bush’s Chapel to merely Spock’s love interest and said I looked forward to the writers giving her more to do. Last week definitely delivered a very different side to Chapel. And while “Subspace Rhapsody” does again focus her story around her relationship with Spock, Bush’s vocal and dance talents are on full display when performing the Chapel-centered song, “I’m Ready.”
Photo: Paramount+
The other star of this episode is the Enterprise sets. I don’t think we’ve gotten this intimate a look at them before. The workstation area of Engineering, the crew lounge, and the vast, seemingly endless hallway sets have never looked better. Watching the cast gracefully dance through them and use the spaces like never before made me realize this really is the best set design in a Trek series since Deep Space Nine‘s glorious Cardassian architecture.
“Subspace Rhapsody” may seem like a strange — no pun intended — choice for the season’s penultimate episode at first glance, but it moves several storylines forward in significant ways. First, there’s Chapel’s acceptance into Dr. Korby’s fellowship program. Long-time Trek fans will recognize that name. In The Original Series episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” where Dr. Roger Korby plays a central role, he’s established as having been both a mentor and ex-fiancé to Nurse Chapel. As it looks like her relationship with Spock has deteriorated before it got a chance to get off the ground, I suspect she’ll return to Enterprise in Season 3 well into this new relationship if not already engaged to Korby.
La’an finally confesses to Jim Kirk her experience and deep connection with the alternate timeline Kirk from “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” And while this Kirk seems to see La’an for who she is in similar ways, he reveals he’s also unavailable. At present, his relationship status with a scientist named Carol is complicated and made even more so by his learning that she’s pregnant. Of course, this is Carol Marcus, introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and last seen played by Alice Eve in Star Trek: Into Darkness. So that’s a second potential romantic pairing that ends in some degree of heartbreak this week.
Then there’s the third couple: Captains Pike and Batel. Not a lot changed this week. Pike again shows difficulty communicating honestly with his partner, a theme we’ve already observed. But perhaps most relevant was a passing line at the episode’s end by Batel that she’s being called away on a priority mission. This no doubt will tie in with the season finale. Is this related to the Gorn threat teased in the season premiere or is the show finally ready to pay off that Sybok tease from season one?
Photo: Paramount+
“Subspace Rhapsody” is an inherently silly episode built around a silly conceit. Everyone involved seems to have been having fun. At one point, Rebecca Romijn’s Una delivers the ridiculous, almost fourth-wall-breaking line, “The last thing anyone wants is singing Klingons,” only for the episode to later deliver a quick glimpse at the Bridge of the Klingon ship in full Broadway mode in one of the most surreal and absurdly comic moments you’ll find in any Trek series.
As with my review of this season’s “Charades,” this is likely to be a divisive episode. Some fans demand Star Trek remain serious, and “Subspace Rhapsody” marks the third heavily comedic episode of season two alone. But I think the writers have balanced out the season nicely. Last week gave us maybe the darkest episode of Strange New Worlds yet, and “Ad Astra Per Aspera” provided a truly excellent courtroom drama. This series has proven it can run the gamut from telling serious dramas about war trauma to screwball comedy. And in that sense, it is in line with the earlier Trek series. I think modern audiences forget just how often The Original Series and The Next Generation would cut loose and embrace campiness. I found “Subspace Rhapsody” to be another fun and refreshing experiment.
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