‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Recap – ‘All Those Who Wander’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Nine of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Not all those who wander are lost and not all that is gold glitters. All Captain hosted gatherings do seem to have the best food, however, and really, that is probably the one place everyone would rather be. When things start out bright and happy, even with a promotion ceremony of sorts, it’s bound to end badly. Whether that’s horribly hung over from Romulan Ale or a fight with the Klingon’s, really, there’s no telling.
 
The Enterprise and her crew are already on their way to deliver some much-needed supplies to a space station when they get asked to help a distressed ship. Which mission is more important? Technically, both! Which is why Captain Pike splits up the crew. Una will take the Enterprise to finish her original mission, while Pike will take an away team and help this damaged starship. Easy, right?

Wrong. Very wrong. Pike, Uhura, Spock, Kirk, Chapel, M’Benga, Hemmer, and La’an check out the ship. Shortly after their arrival, they find the remaining crew, including their captain, dead outside in the freezing cold. There’s very little explanation as to why they’d be out there, until they find the captain’s log. Hemmer is able to get enough power to play the message. Turns out, they were attacked by Gorn. They picked up three stranded people, one of them had been infected with Gorn eggs. The rest is a bloody history. There are two heat signatures on the ship, turns out a young girl survived and an alien friend of hers.
 
While he’s being seen to by Chapel, the Gorn eggs within him hatch, he dies horrifically, and the baby Gorn are free. Four to be exact, or rather three since one kills another. Gorn are apparently a lot like Tiger Sharks. They kill their own siblings until the strongest one survives. This is when one of the Cadets they brought with them, and their newly reported crew member we had just met earlier at his own promotion thing, meet their untimely death.

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The trauma is as strong as a Gorn’s bloodlust. The crew is doing their best to kill the remaining Gorn when Hemmer gets sprayed by one of them. La’an informs everyone that the Gorn hate the cold, so they formulate a plan. Shut down heating to various parts of the ship and drive the Gorn to where they want them to go. Eventually there’s two left, and Spock poses as bait, enough to get the last two to fight to the death. With only one Gorn left, they have to act quick. Gorn are smart, and only the smartest and strongest survive.
 
La’an challenges the Gorn and has it chase her into the cargo bay, where she hides in a pod, and as it tries to get the lid off, Hemmer freezes it until its solid. La’an then smashes it to pieces, and with all she’s been through; it’s a truly amazing moment for her. By now, the Gorn are all gone, or so the crew think. That spit Hemmer got hit with? It wasn’t just venom. It contained more eggs. Hemmer says his goodbyes. There’s nothing they can do, there’s literally no time for them to even try and save him. So instead, he walks outside into the planet’s freezing temperatures. If he’s going to die, he’ll take the Gorn with him.

Uhura is the most upset, as he was a personal role model to her.  She even admits that he reminded her of her late father. His death is likely to push her to stay in Starfleet. After the funeral, La’an puts in a request for a leave of absence. She wants to help the lost girl find her family. After all, both have now survived multiple attacks from the Gorn. La’an knows how important it is to not be alone. She’s willing to take however long she has to, to give this girl a chance at reuniting with her family.

With two crew members gone, and more trouble looming always, we’re left to wonder what’s next for the crew of the Enterprise?

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