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The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 9.
The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s first season is a story of endings and new beginnings. Set at the conclusion of the newly reformed institution’s first year, there’s a sense of success and accomplishment mixed in with the bittersweet feel that also accompanies major change. And there’s plenty of it. Betazed is about to be dedicated as the new seat of the Federation government, post-Burn. And an attack from Nus Braka and his Venari Ral seems imminent, as we finally uncover what it is that the space pirate stole back at the season’s midpoint. The kids have all finished their tests and assignments, and several are struggling with how to reconcile the people they were when they arrived at Starfleet Academy with who they are now.
Sam is struggling to reconcile her memory of her previous self with her newfound life, shaped by a childhood growing up with the Doctor. Jay-Den is embracing his new Starfleet found family by inviting them to become members of the Kraag clan. But Caleb, in particular, is going through it, torn between the life he’s managed to build with his classmates and friends and the one he thought he was meant to be living. (Look, his decision to reject Jay-Den’s invitation to join his family by way of a Klingon drinking ceremony was rude.) There’s a certain level of guilt at work here — Caleb’s had little luck in his search for his mom, but he also doesn’t seem to be dedicating all that much time to it anymore. He’s settling into a very different kind of life, one he never expected to have and isn’t supposed to want but clearly does, despite himself.
This interior conflict becomes very literal when Sam helps him realize he’s had messages from his mother for months, but he just didn’t come up with the right encryption code to read them. To the surprise of exactly zero people, Caleb springs into action without telling anyone what’s going on, despite having regular access to the most powerful people in his organization who might be able to help him get to his mom without putting her or himself in danger. But, because this is Starfleet Academy and we love some youthful hijinks, Sam, Darem, and Genesis end up getting sucked into his crazy scheme to steal a shuttle and cross the Federation border on their own.
He immediately plots a trip to Ukek, a planet just outside the border of Federation space that has a real rundown cantina from Star Wars vibe, full of rough types, criminals, and people living on the fringes. It’s also being targeted for annexation by the Venari Ral, the powerful group of marauders and space pirates of which Nus Braka is a member. And now they have more power than ever before, thanks to the Miyazaki-related heist he managed to pull off back at midseason.
Braka’s crew stole a very dangerous substance called Omega-47, a synthetic variant with apocalyptic-level destructive properties. A single particle is capable of shredding space and subspace so thoroughly that it makes warp travel through the area impossible, and Braka has managed to use some of the other high-tech weaponry to turn the Omega time-delayed mines that can be detonated remotely. This is all standard Star Trek technobabble that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but the result is a nightmare scenario for the Federation, the prospect of another Burn-level event that might cripple warp travel and cut off all Federation worlds from each other once more, just as they’ve started to finally rebuild.
It is, admittedly, wildly convenient that Caleb manages to stumble upon his mother within roughly 120 seconds of beaming into Ukek’s run-down space market, but their reunion is very moving, even if it comes complete with some uncomfortable undertones. After all, these two people may love each other, but they don’t know each other anymore, and Caleb’s been on his own and making his own decisions for a long time. That Anisha steps back into his life and starts making choices for him is almost certainly something they’re going to butt heads about repeatedly in the future, particularly since now that Caleb’s achieved his impossible dream of finding his mother, he doesn’t seem to know what he’s meant to do next.
Your mileage may vary about whether or not you think he’d have left his Starfleet friends behind for good if they hadn’t all almost been arrested and/or shot, but his angry outburst toward Genesis and Darem seems to be more about forcing them to push him away than anything else. But it’s very evident that Caleb has had few people in his life he’s felt he can count on — his mother included — and really doesn’t know what to do with those who actually try and show up for him. And one of those people, clearly, is Chancellor Ake, who immediately starts breaking rules to save Caleb and the other cadets.
Ake’s guilt-based blind spot where this kid is concerned has been mildly to extremely annoying over the course of this season so far, and on some level, I wish this show were more interested in exploring some of the psychological issues Braka called her out on when it comes to her relationship with him. But Holly Hunter plays a determined avenging angel well, and Ake’s insistence that she keep the promises made to protect these kids is perfectly in keeping with the woman we’ve come to know her as. (Plus, the Doctor’s peak dad vibes the minute he learns Sam’s in danger are so great.) How she and Anisha will react to one another is something I’m very much looking forward to (hopefully) seeing next week.
“300th Night” is Starfleet Academy’s first real cliffhanger, an hour that ends with what appears to be Braka and the Venari Ral’s fairly complete victory. With Federation space ringed with destructive omega mines, the entire Starfleet fleet is boxed in, essentially leaving the rest of the galaxy open to a hostile takeover. Ake, Reno, the Doctor, six Academy cadets, and Caleb’s mom are stuck on the Athena’s saucer section, hiding just outside the minefield. They can’t get back to Betazed, the Federation can’t get to them, and they’re not exactly equipped for surviving on their own for very long. It’s…less than ideal, and that’s before we consider that Ake defied some very specific orders to go rescue her students. That’s a lot of ground for the season’s final episode to cover, but at this point, Starfleet Academy’s earned a certain degree of trust that the show will manage to pull it off.
The post Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 9 Review — 300th Night appeared first on Den of Geek.
