There’s a certain corner of the internet that seems to be rather frequently (and loudly) inclined to lament the idea that Star Trek has somehow “gone woke” in the past five years, as though Gene Roddenberry’s original vision of a better tomorrow wasn’t always explicitly about the idea of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, or the many ways embracing our better angels actually requires quite a lot of deliberate and genuinely difficult work and self-reflection about both who we are and who we want to become. Star Trek, at its best, is aspirational television, not because of the cool aliens or futuristic space tech, but because of its characters, who may run the gamut in terms of personality, background, and even species, but who all represent a world in which we should all strive to travel hopefully, to lead with empathy, and to serve something greater than ourselves.
If that all sounds like a Starfleet recruitment video, it’s probably because, in large part, this episode does too, ultimately serving as a showcase for both Starfleet and the Federation’s ability to look inward, to course correct, to admit its own errors. (Even if the changes those admissions deem necessary will take decades to come to fruition and often require a hefty external push to happen.) Yes, Una essentially escapes her dishonorable discharge and sedition conviction on a razor-thin technicality, but her release means she has still played a role in advancing rights for Illyrians and other genetically modified species along the way. She will, after all, be an Illyrian openly serving in Starfleet, and that’s got to count for something, doesn’t it?
The hour fills in much of Una’s backstory, from her childhood days hiding basic injuries from the prying eyes of non-Illyrian neighbors to the reasons behind her desperate desire to join Starfleet in the first place. Her belief in the idea that, yes, space exploration requires hardship (the ad astra per aspera of the episode’s title) but the promise of what’s beyond the stars can ultimately deliver us from anything—from prejudices, from our struggles, from our fears— is beautiful, and so on the nose for this franchise it’s almost painful.
Former American Gods standout Yetide Bataki puts in a remarkable guest turn as Una’s take no bullshit lawyer Neera, who is as interested in exposing Starfleet’s hypocrisy on which rules its leaders are okay with breaking—and who it is that gets to break them without consequence—as she is in actually seeing her client go free. Bataki and Romijn have fabulous chemistry as former besties (or maybe something more, I wasn’t entirely sure on that point!) whose relationship was essentially torn apart by the fact that Una could pass as non-Illyrian and her friend couldn’t.
Neera not only gets the episode’s best outfits but several of the best monologues about justice, even if I do sincerely wish the show had poked a little more deliberately at whether Una’s “asylum” claim would have ever worked out for any hidden Illyrian officer who wasn’t basically the ultimate model minority. (Most of the council didn’t necessarily seem as though they wanted to actually convict her in the first place, and even the head prosecuting attorney seemed more eager to use Una to bring down Pike.) But, if Law & Order has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes you have to give the jury a reason to do what they want to do already, and darned if Neera doesn’t seem to understand that from the start.
“Ad Astra Per Aspera” is hardly the first time that a Star Trek series has used its science fiction setting full of alien cultures to explore the prejudices often faced by those in marginalized groups, who are persecuted or shunned for whatever factors deemed to be sufficiently “other,” or forced to hide some vital aspect of themselves to blend into the larger society. This isn’t even the first time that Strange New Worlds has wrestled with the fallout from the Eugenics Wars or the impact that the defeat of Khan and his Augments had on the way people view species that practice genetic modification. (Though I think it is the first time it’s brought up La’an’s discomfort with her own infamous family name quite so directly. Here’s hoping we continue to pull at that particular narrative thread as the show goes on!)
#celeb #celebrity
