The Newtonian laws of physics give way to Murphy’s First Law of Thermodynamics (anything that can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible moment), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) fights to save Dr. Joseph M’Benga’s (Babs Olusanmokun) life on this week’s nail-biting episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Off-Hour.”
Prologue – Workin’ for the Weekend
Stardate 1213.72 (48:00)
The Enterprise‘s Alpha Shift is about to knock off for the week after a very long mission. With 48 minutes left in their shift, everyone is tying up loose ends to prepare for a well-deserved weekend relaxing at Starbase 7.
Dr. M’Benga is busy in Sickbay making sure everything is ship-shape for his new Assistant Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Phillip Boyce (Brian Markinson), Enterprise‘s former “temporary” CMO. According to Chapel, Boyce left the ship because he didn’t really fit in with the rest of the crew, so she wondered what would make him want to come back as Joseph’s second-in-command.
Chapel is surprised to learn M’Benga asked for the former CMO to come back, “just in case.” Just in case what? M’Benga’s main purpose on the Enterprise was to find a cure for his daughter, Rukiya. He didn’t need to worry about that anymore, so maybe it was time for him to settle down.
That doesn’t go over well with his trauma-bonded nurse. She plays the “you go, we go” card and tells him she can’t work with Boyce. M’Benga deflects the conversation by pointing out she’s had one foot out the door herself.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, so they both decide to drop it.
Famous Last Words
Junior Engineer Lieutenant Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) is down in Engineering finishing his shift, too. He’s going through his checklist thoroughly to make sure he’s turning over a well-oiled machine. Just as he’s about to hand things over to his relief, Lieutenant Early (Ziye Hu), he notices some strange code. Early tells Scotty not to worry about it; he’ll keep an eye on it.
Scotty’s too exhausted to argue, so he hands over the watch to Early and calls it a week.
Up in the Ready Room, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) officially hands over the conn to Lieutenant Rahda (Abinaya Sivakumaran), while an anxious Communications Officer Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Enterprise Pilot Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) look on. Ortegas needs to make one more tiny course correction, and they can head down to the Port Galley for end-of-the-week socializing.
Uh-Oh
Scotty is in the turbolift when he learns never to leave anything unfinished when you quit work for the day. His relief quickly calls him to let him know that “bad code” was worse than they thought. A lot worse. Their warp field is destabilizing, and they’re in danger of being thrown into a slipstream wormhole. Scotty immediately orders the warp engines shut down, but it’s too late.
In Sickbay, Chapel and M’Benga didn’t drop it. During their shouting match, Joseph explains what he meant when he said she had one foot out the door. Chapel never took a permanent assignment to Enterprise; she’s been on temporary status this whole time.
While Chapel searches for a clever retort, the ship suddenly goes to Red Alert.
That’s when, for lack of a scientific term, all hell breaks loose.
Being thrown into the slipstream causes a massive power surge throughout the Enterprise, electrifying every control on the ship. Lightning arcs across the consoles, rendering them fatal to touch.
Trapped in the turbolift, Scotty tries to work the controls once the static discharge passes, but they don’t respond. Maybe it’s his thick Scottish brogue, so he tries his best to enunciate. Unfortunately, accent or not, the turbolift doesn’t move.
Engineering lights up brighter than Chernobyl in 1986, so they evacuate to avoid the radiation.
The Enterprise is flying wildly through a slipstream wormhole, and no one on the Bridge can reach their console to right the ship.
When Chapel is able to assess the damage in Sickbay, she realizes one of the tables came loose and cut Dr. M’Benga in half at the waist. Unlike last week, M’Benga isn’t a puppet, so it’ll take a lot more than a quick sew job to fix him.
Act One
38:22
The Bridge crew is struggling to get to their stations, which proves to be an uphill battle without inertial dampeners. Ortegas makes it to the helm and steadies the ship enough for everyone to get their bearings and figure out just how bad everything was.
It’s bad. Really bad. They have almost no power, and Uhura can’t communicate with anyone on or off the ship. She quickly finds a way to get in touch with the Port Galley, where the rest of the crew had already gathered. Science Officer Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) figured out what Scotty already knew — the Enterprise was thrown into a slipstream wormhole.
Thankfully, Scotty isn’t stuck in the turbolift for very long; he’s freed by Cadet A’Sha (Bianca Nugara).
Since he obviously can’t get anywhere in a turbolift, he suggests they try the transporter, but when they get to the Transporter Room, they find it just as dead as the rest of the ship.
So much for that idea.
35:17
Nurse Chapel is able to stabilize Dr. M’Benga, so she turns to the Sickbay computer for a little diagnostic insight. Scans show M’Benga’s spine is broken, and the only thing keeping him alive is the pressure from the table holding him in place.
Good to know. Don’t move the table.
M’Benga is mercifully unconscious, but Chapel wakes him up to let him know what’s going on. She doesn’t tell him everything, but he can tell by her expression he’s in bad shape. With comms still down, Chapel can’t call anyone for help. She’s on her own.
The Boyce is Back in Town
There’s good news/bad news in the Port Galley. Uhura and Spock were able to restore comms throughout the ship, but the gravity plating in the room just got turned up to 11. There’s an override panel on the far wall, but that’s where gravity is heaviest; anyone who reached it would get crushed.
Except for Number One / Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), whose Illyrian physiology might allow her to make it without getting crushed in the process. She orders Dr. Boyce to help as many injured as he can while she goes for the panel.
Una starts across the room but is quickly pulled down by the higher gravity. By the time she gets to the panel, she can barely move and breaks her leg trying to stand. Still, she persisted, and was able to stabilize the gravity in the Port Galley.
30:26
Scotty and A’Sha are trying to restore some power to the transporter when Scotty officially dubs their situation “Choose Your Disaster Day.” I have never heard of that holiday, but I sure hope there’s cake.
Desperately searching for a system they can pull power from, Cadet A’Sha makes the bold suggestion of pulling power from life support. Scotty’s knee-jerk reaction is to reject the idea, since that’s the thing that, you know, keeps them all alive. A’Sha informs him she wasn’t referring to all life support – gather the crew in common areas and turn off life support everywhere else. That should give them enough power for one transporter pad.
That’ll work. Scotty quickly gets on the newly-restored comms and invokes Starfleet Safety Protocol 429 to enact their plan. Everyone has a few minutes to get out of the corridors before they get really cold.
Hello, Nurse!
Dr. Boyce hears the announcement and takes the opportunity to call Sickbay to see if he can get an extra pair of hands in the Port Galley. Chapel tells him she has one patient who’s critical, and she has to stay to keep him alive.
Boyce invokes his triage training and tells her to leave him; there’s nothing that can be done for him. Make him as comfortable as you can and get down here to help with wounded.
Chapel knows Boyce is right, but she still can’t leave; her patient is Dr. M’Benga.
Boyce doesn’t hesitate to declare M’Benga dead and himself as CMO. Chapel won’t let M’Benga die just yet, so she cuts off communication.
M’Benga’s hearing is just fine, and everything Chapel didn’t tell him becomes clear. He’s not going to make it.
Probing the Slipstream
Now that the ship seems relatively stable, Scotty and A’Sha divert as many controls as they can to the Transporter Room and deploy a probe to see what’s going on outside the ship. It’s destroyed almost as soon as it’s launched, so they don’t get much data at all. One thing they are able to figure out is that not only are they going way too fast, but they’re still accelerating.
According to Scotty’s calculations, they’ll reach the warp threshold (Warp 10) in about 24 minutes. When that happens, all the matter in the ship will break down, and their atoms will be scattered throughout the universe.
No biggie.
Act Two
Keep It Together, Man
Nurse Chapel is more concerned with keeping Dr. M’Benga in one piece. Her mentor, however, isn’t going to put the rest of the crew at risk just for himself. He even goes so far as to try to push the table off of himself, but he’s in no condition to move anything.
It doesn’t matter. Chapel refuses to let him die.
As if things weren’t bad enough, one of the Sickbay doors failed to fully close, causing the arctic temperatures to start filling the room.
Chapel grabs as many mylar blankets as she can to wrap around herself as well as try to patch the door. It’s a Band-Aid, not a fix, though; all she did was buy them some time before they freeze to death.
22:43
Scotty reaches out to the Enterprise‘s Chief Engineer, Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) for instructions and a little wisdom. She’s figured out what’s going on and reassures him that he’s doing a good job, but unless he wants her to turn into a Lanthanite-flavored popsicle, it’s all up to him.
No pressure, Scotty.
A Neutrino Walks Into a Bar
Captain Pike retakes the conn from Lt. Rahda and solicits advice on how to get out of this particular situation. Spock suggests they can use the sensors in the ship’s Ion Pod to scan for neutrinos. The catch: The only way to get to the pod is from the outside. Whoever goes will have to scale the outer hull of the Enterprise while being bombarded by lethal levels of radiation.
Spock is the logical choice, so he volunteers for the task.
Before he can even do that, however, someone has to reconfigure the pod to scan for neutrinos. Cadet A’Sha has a thought about that: They can restore life support in one of the Jefferies Tubes, where she can then beam Scotty to reconfigure the pod.
Solid plan. Go team.
Everyone is on an open channel, so Sickbay is listening as well. When Chapel hears “neutrinos,” she remembers something from Dr. M’Benga’s research into a cure for his daughter, Rukiya. It might be the solution she’s been looking for, so she quickly checks his notes for the specifics.
There’s a theory about strong-form neutrinos. If they exist, they can repower the ship and fix Dr. M’Benga. Chapel just needs to tell Spock to look for them.
16:00 – Ion Be There
As the Enterprise barrels through subspace at a mind-numbing speed, Spock dons an EVA suit and makes his way along the hull to the Ion Pod. The intense radiation is preventing comms, so the only way they know Spock made it to the pod is when it suddenly activates.
Radiation levels are still rising, so Pike has to jettison the pod. He calls down to tell Spock to get out of there, but there’s no way to know if Spock heard him. Pike waits until the very last second, then presses the button on his chair to jettison the pod, quite possibly killing his friend.
Sound familiar?
Act Three
12:10
Enterprise Security Chief Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) may have broken Spock’s heart, but she still cares about what happens to him. Like Schrödinger’s Cat, they don’t know if Spock is dead or alive, so La’an volunteers to open the box. She believes Spock survived, and she’s going to go get him.
Lemons and Lemonade
Scotty’s had a minute to start wrapping his head around everything that happened, and he’s starting to freak out. He expresses his self-doubt to his Chief Engineer, who immediately tries to calm her protégé with some physics wordplay.
Her attempt to lighten the mood didn’t help the overwhelmed Junior Engineer. He still feels the weight of being the only survivor from the Gorn attack on the Stardiver. Could he have done anything differently? Did they all die because of something he did (or didn’t do)?
As Pelia wanders around her quarters, she gives Scotty some advice that will stay with him for the rest of his life. She encourages her junior officer to ignore the numbers on the specs and learn to feel the ship around him. The Enterprise will tell them when she can’t take any more, better than any schematic ever will.
Most importantly, she tells him he needs to become a miracle worker as she finds and patches a pinhole-sized breach behind a calendar on her wall.
Do they still use calendars in the 23rd century?
In any case, her encouraging words give Scotty his second wind.
Cold as Ice
In Sickbay, Nurse Chapel has come up with a radical plan to save Dr. M’Benga’s life. She’s going to let the cold in, effectively placing M’Benga in cryostasis. While he’s frozen, she can use the strong-form neutrinos to rebuild the parts of his body that have been crushed.
And Scotty’s supposed to be the one performing miracles?
To call her plan a long shot would be a massive understatement, and M’Benga knows this. He doesn’t want to leave things the way they did when they were arguing, so Joseph starts getting things off his chest.
Christine isn’t ready to let her space buddy go just yet.
Unfortunately, Sickbay is. The bio-bed keeping Dr. M’Benga alive loses power. That still doesn’t deter Chapel from keeping M’Benga alive, though; she grabs an emergency axe (it’s a thing) and starts hacking away at the bulkhead to reroute the power she needs.
It’s the moment of truth; either the strong-form neutrinos magically heal M’Benga, or he freezes to death. M’Benga still doesn’t think he’s worth saving, but Chapel wants to see this through.
To distract him from the cold, Christine asks Joseph to tell her his favorite joke. Everybody has one, and she wants to hear his.
“A Klingon is invited to a Lanthanite wedding and has to find a gift…”
Just as he reaches the punchline, M’Benga freezes.
Chapel moves before she succumbs to the cold herself. She moves the table that’s been holding her friend together but loses a finger to frostbite in the process.
Now she just has to hope Spock found strong-form neutrinos before she freezes to death, too.
Paging Dr. Schrödinger
La’an makes her way along the Enterprise‘s outer hull in her attempt to find Spock. She reaches the Ion Pod housing and finds Spock’s equipment still there. She peers in and…
Spock is alive and has the data they need. No court martial for Captain Pike this week.
She grabs the science officer and helps him make it back inside the ship.
Act Four
4:03
With just over four minutes until everyone joins the choir subatomic, La’an gets Spock back to the Port Galley. She hands the data chip to Una, but it’s been damaged by the radiation and is now unreadable.
They have the data they need, but they can’t access it.
Spock was in the pod and saw the data come in, but he’s been hit with so much radiation that he can’t speak. La’an thinks quickly and finds a workaround; she grabs his hand and places it on her katra points, allowing Spock to mind meld with her.
It works.
Miracle Worker
La’an gets the data she retrieved from her mind meld with Spock to Scotty, who finds the Strong Force Neutrinos they desperately need. He routes the coordinates to Ortegas, but they only have 30 seconds to get there, collect the neutrinos, and get out. Pike is afraid the Enterprise won’t last that long.
Scotty remembers what Pelia told him about feeling the ship. He reaches out with both his hand and with his feelings… wait, wrong franchise. Anyway, he places his palm on the bulkhead, closes his eyes, and lets the Enterprise tell him what she’s capable of. He feels the ship strain, but in that moment, he knows she’ll hold together long enough.
Ortegas dives the Enterprise toward the neutrinos they desperately need and switches on the Bussard Collectors. strong-form neutrinos begin to flow throughout the ship. Systems begin coming back online, and the neutrinos rebuild M’Benga’s midsection. With just three seconds to spare, the Enterprise escapes from the slipstream and warps away to safety.
Down in Sickbay, Chapel can’t hold off the cold any longer. She loses consciousness as she tells her friend, “You’re gonna be OK.”
Dénouement
Beam Me Up, A’Sha
With the crisis finally over, Cadet A’Sha beams Scotty out of the Jefferies Tube and back to the Transporter Room. The junior engineer places his hand on the room’s bulkhead and takes a moment to commune with the Enterprise a little more. Eyes closed, Scotty begins to understand what Pelia has been trying to teach him since the Academy.
Speaking of Scotty’s CO, she’s finally able to join him once life support is restored throughout the ship. Before her junior officer can even notice she walked through the door, Pelia sees exactly what he’s doing and does the same herself. Scotty opens his eyes, and he and Pelia exchange a silent but powerful moment of understanding.
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
Nurse Chapel wakes up in Sickbay on one of her own bio-beds with Captain Pike standing over. More importantly, she sees Dr. M’Benga in the bed next to her, also recovering from her radical procedure.
Chapel’s been thinking about everything she and M’Benga fought over, and she sees he was right; she has had one foot out the door this whole time. Since she has the captain’s attention, she takes the opportunity to formally request a permanent assignment to Enterprise‘s medical department.
Captain Pike is happy to keep the nurse on board, but he confirms what she suspected from the beginning – Dr. M’Benga is getting ready to transfer off the ship.
Chapel knows she’ll miss her friend, but she’s ready to move on without him. She lets her request stand.
When Joseph wakes up, Christine reminds him he never finished his joke. M’Benga smiles and says…
You’ll have to watch the episode for that.
Final Report
“Off-Hour” is a classic example of a Star Trek “Disaster”-themed episode. More than that, it sets up a big transition for the Enterprise crew – replacing their CMO.
- Break-ups. Last week, La’an ended her relationship with Spock (a little coldly). This week, Dr. M’Benga ends the mentor/protégé relationship between him and Nurse Chapel. She’s been attached to his hip since J’Gal (“Under the Cloak of War”), but he’s ready to move on to a different phase in his life. He doesn’t want her continued dependence on him to hold her back. She finally gets it, but it takes a while for her to get there. Her journey is rough, but she eventually concedes that he’s right. Now, the door is open for a new Enterprise CMO to come on board, but who will it be? Boyce? Piper? McCoy? We’ll just have to wait and see.
- Speaking of Boyce, I enjoyed seeing his character back in a Star Trek episode. I’m not sure what it is about the character of Dr. Phillip Boyce, but even Star Trek: Lower Decks never mentioned him. Aside from his name appearing on a monitor in Star Trek: Into Darkness, he’s been completely absent from Star Trek altogether since “The Cage.” The actor playing him in “Off-Hour,” Brian Markinson, is no stranger to Star Trek, either; he also portrayed Dr. Giger in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “In the Cards.” I really hope he was able to do something about his cellular ennui.
- Make-ups. Pelia has been giving Scotty a lot of crap ever since he came on board in “Hegemony.” She came in screaming, “The Gorn are here!!!” to get him to remember how to put his transponder back together. She sends him to all her meetings for her. Last week, she was borderline abusive toward him. He’s rightly called her on it several times, but she’s always intimidated him. When Pelia sees Scotty in the Transporter Room with his hand on the bulkhead, she knows she’s finally gotten through to him. When he sees her doing the same, he finally understands what she’s been trying to teach him since the Academy – He’s capable of a lot more than he thinks he is (and a helluva lot more than whiny Declan Milder).
As good as it was, it seemed to be the victim of lazy writing in spots.
- Strong-form neutrinos. It was a little too convenient how well this theoretical particle could magically fix everything. Granted, the writers only had 48 minutes to solve the problem, but it may have been a little more believable if they only needed the particles to restore power and not fill in the giant hole in Dr. M’Benga’s midsection as well.
- The Ion Pod. We’ve seen this episode before. It felt like the writers plucked the Ion Pod scenes from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Court Martial,” where Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was on trial for allegedly ejecting the Ion Pod too soon, and dropped them neatly into “Off-Hour.” Don M. Mankiewicz, writer of “Court Martial,” should get co-writing credit on “Off-Hour” as well.
The episode had far more strengths than weaknesses. I’m not ashamed to admit that the moment between Scotty and Pelia in the Transporter Room made me tear up. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Off-Hour” will quickly become another classic episode in the Star Trek franchise.
Watch season four of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds every Thursday on Paramount+ through September 24.
