Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyStar Trek: Strange New Worlds
Paramount Plus
Season 1 Episode 6
Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
A threat to an idyllic planet reunites Captain Pike with the lost love of his life. To protect her and a scientific holy child from a conspiracy, Pike offers his help and is forced to face unresolved feelings of his past.
The Enterprise is on route to a planet with a connection to Pike’s past and he has a run in with Uhura who is doing a rotation with La’an in security. This moment does a good job of setting up the B story of the episode before transitioning into a great action sequence with an escaping ship needing the Enterprise to rescue it. The opening sequence has the right amount of action, humor and pacing to set up everything for the episode to come.
I like seeing the normally nonchalant Pike become nonplussed when faced with a former flame. A former flame who seems to have some secrets when pressed about the attack on her vessel and her unwillingness to have the Federation investigate the downed attack ship. At the same time, M’Benga makes a discovery in sickbay that could have surprising repercussions for a personal issue of his own.
Pike decides to accompany Alora to her home planet in order to discover who in her orbit might be plotting against her and the boy in her charge. The young actor playing the First Servant is impressive in the role and I like how his intellect impresses everyone around him. It’s a great message to send to kids that being smart is an asset.
While Pike and Alora deal with a potential conspiracy against the First Servant, Uhura and La’an investigate the data tapes taken from the alien ship. M’Benga pleads his case to the First Servant’s doctor while Pike gets some Kirk-style alien action with his former flame. In the aftermath, La’an and Uhura discover something strange about the kidnappers, there is another attempts on the child and the mystery gets deeper.
Pike finally starts to ask the right questions and the crew finally starts to get answers about why the First Servant is so significant to the planet. This is the first real tension in the episode as we get to see exactly what the First Servant will be used for.
There’s no happy ending to the episode and that is the best element about it. While there isn’t a lot of tension in the episode itself, it does do a great job of showing the limitations of what Pike can do. The episode is effective in introducing an interesting conflict, an imperfect resolution and a lesson on how it relates to humanity.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S01XE06
