Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 8
"Orders of Magnitude"
Writer: Alan B. McElroy
Director: Sharon Lewis
Cast: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Martin Quinn, Rebecca Romijn
After weeks defined by soap stars and spooky spaceships, Strange New Worlds returns to form with "Orders of Magnitude," a tense, taut hour of television that offers up an absorbing, two-pronged plot and a fascinating glimpse of the man James Kirk will one day become.
While Captain Pike (Anson Mount) leads a landing party in search of an SOS on an uncharted moon, Kirk (Paul Wesley) stops by the Enterprise for a checkup. Soon after, Admiral Simon Reeger (Joe Morton), a decorated war hero who served with Kirk's father at the Battle of Zeta Reticuli, arrives and commandeers the vessel in his search of a mysterious cloaked ship responsible for a deadly attack on a Federation colony.
With both Pike and Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) off ship and out of range, Kirk is promoted to acting first officer — a move that doesn't seem all that logical to Spock — and the Enterprise sets off on its latest mission. The ship is eventually tracked via gamma trail to Argus II, but a cargo freighter arrives and threatens to blow their cover. The Admiral orders a zero-thrust torpedo to be used to disable the craft, a command that raises some concerns among the crew, particularly Kirk. Losing track of the cloaked ship during the ensuing discussion, Reeger, who now believes it's hiding somewhere on Argus II, initiates General Order 24: the complete destruction of the planet's inhabited surface.
Back on the moon, Pike and his team realize too late that the SOS was a trap and are quickly set upon by a group of Andorian weapon smugglers. Turr (Currie Graham), the group's leader, who happens to be a former Starfleet officer who turned to piracy after being dishonorably discharged for insubordination by his human commander, demands that they give him access to Starfleet's comm frequencies — stabbing Cadet A'Sha (Bianca Nugara) with a toxic crystal to speed things along.
Ordered off the bridge for questioning the Admiral, Kirk discovers that Reeger's family was killed in the mystery ship massacre and implores Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who also served under Reeger during the war, to declare the man emotionally compromised. Returning to the bridge, Kirk is caught trying to send a message to Starfleet requesting permission to relieve Reeger of command. This doesn't sit well with the man, who promotes Spock (Ethan Peck) to first officer and orders La'an (Christina Chong) to throw Kirk in the brig.
Meanwhile, Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) agrees to help the smugglers so long as they allow her to take care of A'Sha. Fiddling with the communications array, she uses the equipment to emit a piercing sound that distracts their captors long enough for her to get her hands on a rifle. A fierce gun battle ensues, with Turr eventually being crushed under several large crystals that Uhura shoots down from the ceiling.
Back on the Enterprise, Kirk escapes and seeks out his brother Sam (Dan Jeannotte), who reveals that it was actually their father, George, who was in command during the Battle of Zeta Reticuli after Reeger suffered a traumatic brain injury. Eventually making his way to a phaser power junction, Kirk is beamed back to the bridge, where he reveals he did some tinkering and, if Reeger fires on the planet, the Enterprise will explode! Incensed at this latest act of insubordination, Reeger lands a few choice punches and then threatens to kill Kirk for messing with his plans. Reeger eventually admits that George Kirk was the real hero during the war and that he doctored the record, resulting in M'Benga finally stepping up to declare him medically unfit for command and La'an stunning him with a well-placed phaser bolt.
If you think that’s exciting, just wait for the big reveal at the end!
Another stupendously solid episode of Strange New Worlds, "Orders of Magnitude" is a high-energy outing that flawlessly fuses classic '60s-style beats with 21st century contemporary taste. Paul Wesley and Joe Morton have some of the best scenes of the season, and it’s really great to see Celia Rose Gooding finally getting her long-overdue moment to shine away from the comms.
It's compelling and charismatic, with more than a couple of callbacks and a complex moral dilemma burning brightly at its core. In short, this is one sensational bit of small-screen sci-fi that has affixed itself as one of the best episodes of the series to date!
