Pike, refusing to passively accept his friend’s fate, jets off to meet Neera (Yetide Badaki), an Illyrian lawyer and former friend of Number One, who has until now refused their pleas for help. Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) – who for some reason is now a member of Starfleet’s legal corps – offers a plea bargain with a dishonorable discharge, something Number One recoils at. She’s thinking about her childhood, where her parents worry about taking her to a doctor and therefore exposing her status.

Number One is preparing to stand trial for fraudulently entering Starfleet despite its ban on genetic modification. And there’s at least one actually funny comedy moment where we, once again, see how much more fun Spock is when he’s played as a goofball. The subtext here is sufficiently broad that there’s a multitude of readings it’ll accept without too much stretching. It helps that Star Trek wears the tropes of courtroom drama so well, since they’re both prone to a melodramatic exploration of The Big Issues(™). That’s not to say the episode is bad, because it’s another confidently told, if lightweight, tale in a series that knows it works in that register. Much as it presents a world that’s hopeful of change, long-term viewers know that optimism is misplaced.

In comparison, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” serves as an indictment of prequels, exposing the limits of what it can say, and do. The episode served to make the tragic nature of his character both a benefit and a burden, making it compelling in the process. “ A Quality of Mercy” deftly played with the fact Pike will eventually get his near-fatal dose of radiation. Until now, Strange New Worlds has navigated this issue well, making a virtue of its well-known conclusion. And any violence to the extant narrative can jar viewers who likely know what’s going on now contradicts what they’ve already seen. Dramatic license is hampered by the fact the audience often knows where these characters (and storylines) end up. Prequels, especially for well-known properties, are straightjackets which limit their own storytelling possibilities. The following article contains spoilers for “Ad Astra per Aspera.”

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