Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 9
"Once La'an a Time"
Writer: Onitra Johnson
Director: Sydney Freeland
Cast: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Martin Quinn, Rebecca Romijn
I may be in the minority, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this season of Strange New Worlds! From the prehistoric hijinks of “Valles Marineris” to the monochromatic beauty of “A Case of Chiaroscuro,” the last eight episodes have really shown how effortlessly this franchise can genre-jump from one week to the next while still keeping Gene Roddenberry’s vision alive and well — whether duking it out with dinosaurs or revelling in the embellished emotions of a soap opera.
And this week is no exception.
In “Once La’an A Time,” Strange New Worlds lives up to its name when Captain Pike (Anson Mount) leads a landing party to the surface of an “unknown flat planet” and discovers Elysian, the fantasy kingdom created by Dr. M’Benga’s (Babs Olusanmokun) daughter all the way back in Season 1. After a paper-thin explanation for its existence, the group — which also includes Spock (Ethan Peck), Pelia (Carol Kane), and La’an (Christina Chong) — is promptly captured by Queen Neve’s (Celia Rose Gooding) royal guards. With help from Prince Dashing (Paul Wesley), La’an escapes and concocts a plan to rescue her friends by informing the prince that she must sneak into Queen Neve’s dungeon to retrieve a necklace storing her memories.
Not long after, Pike and Spock’s doppelgangers — the cowardly Sir Rauth and Pollux the Wizard — happen upon the crew’s shed uniforms and communicator and find themselves beamed aboard the Enterprise. Meanwhile, Queen Neve, looking to take control of the ship (referred to in prophecy as the Iron Dragon) and use it to conquer Elysian, traps Pike and Spock in a pair of oil paintings and demands that Pelia — introduced as the fairy tale’s author and absolutely smitten with the scones baked by miracle worker Chef Max (I see what you did there) — pen a new book chronicling her conquest.
Back in the forest, La’an and Dashing cross paths with Brave Sir Adya (Melissa Navia), who joins their quest and leads them to a cabin deep in the Swamp of Infinite Death (keep those homages coming). As Dashing, uh, dashes off to battle a supposed werewolf, La’an meets Z’ymira the Huntress (Rebecca Romijn), who supplies her with the Key of Consequence. The questers then sneak into a masquerade ball, where La’an is conflicted by her inner darkness and counselled by Prince Dashing (dude is clearly more than tights and windswept hair) to accept all of who she is.
Suddenly, Queen Neve arrives and pulls some Disney-level magic, conjuring a full moon that reveals Dashing hides a beastly, yet predictable secret. La’an’s doppelganger, Princess Thalia, arrives just as Dashing is confined to an oil painting, and Neve steals the essence of both women to become, what else? A fire-breathing dragon!
“Once La’an A Time” feels very much like something plucked from the mind of Rob Reiner: a world of swamps, spells, and spandex that’s one part Enchanted, one part The Princess Bride, and a whole lot of fun. Sure, the plot is a little insipid in spots, and there isn’t a whole lot of Star Trek-iness to go around this week, but what it lacks in the sci-fi department it more than makes up for with callbacks, Easter eggs, and impressive visual effects. Plus, for the first time in 60 years, we finally get to see a dragon in Star Trek — and it’s no B-movie slouch, believe you me!
Above all else, “Once La’an A Time” offers a poignant lesson about acceptance and staying true to who you are. Granted, it doesn’t do this in the deepest or most soulful of ways, but in the end, it works and offers sufficient closure to this part of La’an’s story. Plus, the costumes are stunning, the set design is on-point, and Christina Chong has never been more radiant in her dual roles. Not to mention Anson Mount and Ethan Peck have some truly terrific scenes together as the bumbling duo of Rauth and Pollux. I’m kinda hoping we see them again at some point (sorry, not sorry).
Is this the best episode of Strange New Worlds to date? Nope. Did we even need a follow-up to “The Elysian Kingdom,” particularly one that feels so ho-hum in comparison to its predecessor? Unh-uh. But, you know what? I am glad it exists. It was amusing, adventurous, and unafraid to forge its own path — and that, at least if you ask me, is just one of the many things that has made Star Trek feel so wonderfully relevant these last 60 years.
On to the finale!
