It’s time for some cynical synergy as we decided on the stunt of ranking the first episode of season two of Strange New Worlds!
Strange New Worlds “A Quality of Mercy”
The finale for Strange New Worlds was an interesting close to season one, leaping forwards in time a few years and featuring a perplexed Pike as he knows he did something wrong, but has to keep going along with it.
When I first saw the episode I knew there was something missing, but wasn’t really sure what it was. We talk a lot about Paul Wesley’s Kirk, the convoluted work to get where we need to go time travel-wise and do our best not to pre-emptively discuss the following episode.
The Original Series “Balance of Terror”
Covering A Quality of Mercy meant covering Balance of Terror was going to be a necessity. I sometimes hit the Original Series a little more cynically than Miles as I don’t really have the nostalgia for it and remember a lot of adults telling me how it was better than the newer episodes back when I was a kid. Still, I had to message Miles partway through this episode and say how good of an episode it is.
We’ve got a top heavy list, but this feels like one of the first top shooters we’ve had in a while.
Strange New Worlds “The Broken Circle”
Finally, the start of season two. It may sound like we’re a bit down on it, but that’s only in comparison to the rest.
We’ve got action, we’ve got Carol Kane, we’ve got Spock wrestling with emotions and the medics kicking arse. It’s fun and after having seen the second episode, I can see the instinct to start with action instead of a courtroom drama, but when we get to that episode, it’s going to be up there.
The episodes can be found on all podcatchers, on Spotify or using this link:
Faked Tales 