Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyStar Trek: Strange New Worlds
Paramount Plus
Season 1 Episode 4
Memento Mori
While on a routine supply mission to a colony planet, the USS Enterprise comes under an attack from an unknown malevolent force. Pike brings all his heart and experience to bear in facing the crisis, but the security officer warns him that the enemy cannot be dealt with by conventional Starfleet means.
The Enterprise is delivering a device to a colony in order to allow them to fix their atmosphere. At the same time, many of the crew are honoring lost crew members from previous assignments. Things get intense when the crew arrives at the colony and discovers a massacre. In orbit, a cargo ship is found with survivors and a bigger mystery begins to unfold.
The episode opens brilliantly with drama, intensity, mystery and action. There is great tension throughout the episode and La’an gets a bulk of the show’s drama because of her past and with the Gorn being the primary enemy of the episode. The B story involves Uhura and Hemmer trying to disarm a dangerous device. It’s your standard two opposing personalities forced to work together and it works really well.
There is a C story where Number One is injured in the attack and the lack of power forces the medical personnel to go old school with their treatments and triage who they can. The drama comes from the hard choices M’Benga has to make and there is a great moment with Una that showcases her character and the stakes of the episode.
La’an works through some of her issues and her past through a mind meld. What makes this moment work is how the character uses the moment to make a difference in the episode. It gives great character growth. What also works really well is the action in the episode utilizes the ship perfectly. There isn’t a knock down, drag out fight. The ship uses stealth and maneuvering like a submarine and that adds to the tension of the episode and showcases how effective Pike is as Captain.
The episode is filled with great moments throughout and is bolstered by great performances by the cast and awesome special effects that are peak Star Trek. The series is definitely building momentum and this episode is an exciting addition to the franchise.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S01XE04
