Strange New Worlds robbed Pike of the power of his sacrifice
The assignment was a distinctly Star Trek one: Once again having doubts about his tragic fate, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is visited by his future self and forced to live out a crucial moment in the ship’s existence to see why not avoiding the accident that leaves him scarred and paralyzed is better than what happens in that timeline. Also, it’s just “Balance of Terror” again, which Star Trek loves to revisit.
The result is “A Quality of Mercy,” the season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1. And it’s informative: In this timeline, with Pike at the helm of the Enterprise instead of Kirk, what would be a one-off episode becomes an all-out war. Pike is left with the consolation (if not fully comforting thought) of knowing that his death not only saves some ensigns, but keeps Spock alive and the universe from being torn apart in conflict. He can now go forward into the dire fate he witnessed in Star Trek: Discovery knowing that it’s the right thing to do.
Apologies to Strange New Worlds, but that’s a little bit bullshit. In the show’s attempt to tie up a loose narrative end and give Pike a season arc, it robs him of the great challenge to his character— one all his cleverness, charm, and ingenuity couldn’t free him from.
His grim destiny of delta ray exposure (which leaves him unable to move or speak) is an unenviable position, one Pike was doomed to in the Original Series’ two-parter “The Menagerie.” While the 2009 Star Trek tried to soften his post-accident outcome, modern Star Trek TV plays Pike’s fate as more a body horror nightmare he is staring down every single day.
And predictably — wonderfully — we see Pike struggle with it. For a character this virtuous, this proficient, this
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