STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS: Episode 4.2: “The Griffin Incident”

In Episode 2 of Season 4 of STAR TREK:  STRANGE NEW WORLDS, Spock, Kirk and La’An are returning from a Starfleet conference when they run into a distress signal inside an asteroid belt that turns out to be a ship that disappeared nine years ago and seems to be demonically haunted by an unknown phenomenon. Episode 2 of Season 4 of STAR TREK:  STRANGE NEW WORLDS mixes some horror conventions into its typical science fiction adventure plot and shows the heroes of the Starship Enterprise fighting demonic delusions by offering sacrifices and by focusing on family and the rational faculties derived from our Creator, but it has some scary scenes of bloody violence and light foul language, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

The episode opens with Mr. Spock, Lieutenant Kirk and Security Officer La’An in a shuttle returning from a Star Fleet conference for future leaders. A signal from a nearby small asteroid belt reaches them. After sending a long-distance alert to the Enterprise, they go to inspect and find that it’s coming from a starship named “The Griffin” which disappeared nine years ago. They board the ship and find the ship empty with no one aboard but with enough life support for one hour.

Where did the crew go? They go exploring and see a woman with her back turned toward them. She runs away, into a dead end where she just disappeared.

Spock discovers information on the ship’s computer reporting that the ship’s crew had started having violent outbursts coupled with delusions. Multiple people died and the rest of the crew, more than 200, were transported into outer space, presumed dead. Griffin’s Security Officer, Rose Harper, had reported the captain to be dangerous, and was confined to her quarters for being delusional.

They soon split up, with Spock searching the medical bay to see if there’s some information about what happened to the crew. The doors are locked on him. While there, a body with a sheet on it suddenly moves behind Spock. Spock is surprised to find that it’s his former fiancée, T-Pring. He thinks she’s just an illusion of some kind, but they decide to look for a way out of the medical bay.

Meanwhile, La’An encounters Rose Harper. The woman has a zombie face, so is she a ghost or some kind of space zombie? La’An tries to question what’s left of Rose, but Rose implores her to stay with the ship.

Meanwhile, Kirk keeps hearing his son, David crying, and goes searching for him. Members of the Enterprise then beam aboard, including Captain Pike, Lt. Uhuru, Commander Chin-Riley, and Kirk’s brother, Sam, who has a wife and two children.

Uhuru goes searching for La’An while Sam stays with Kirk on the Bridge and the Captain and the Commander visit Spock in the medical bay. The situation explodes into violence as T’Pring threatens Spock, Captain Pike and La’An go mad, Rose attacks Uhuru, and Kirk and Sam are threatened by a window busting.

Episode 2 of Season 4 of STAR TREK:  STRANGE NEW WORLDS mixes some horror conventions into its typical science fiction adventure plot. Within the conventions of the horror movie, the characters are often faced with a potentially fearful situation where the “normal” order of things is disrupted. This disruption can be graphed by “binary oppositions,” i.e., Life/Death, Human/Animal, Civilization/Jungle, and so forth. For example, Dracula upsets the boundary between Life and Death because he is both alive and dead, the Wolf Man confuses the line between the Human and the Animal because he is both a wolf and a man, and King Kong upsets the boundary between Civilization and the Jungle when he escapes the theater to wreak havoc on New York City. Faced with this scary chaos, the characters must try to restore order by repairing the balance, frequently by killing or banishing the monster responsible for the disruption. Once the chaotic monster is destroyed or banished, the characters are then able to begin their lives anew.

In this STRANGE NEW WORLDS episode, the heroes are faced with situations where Fantasy and Reality are confused. Thus, Mr. Spock’s mental faculties are attacked, and he can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not real. Of course, this becomes a nightmare for Spock’s rational mind, the mind that God has created inside him. Also, When La’An and the other heroes have visions of the dead security officer, Rose Harper, what they see is a demonic zombie who has disrupted the boundary between Life and Death. Episode 2 of Season 4 also disrupts the boundary

Also, in a horror story, the weapons used are usually personal things like knives, scissors, canes, or animal fangs and claws. In a science fiction movie, however, the weapons are more impersonal things like laser guns, weather changing devices (as in the science fiction oriented spy movie OUR MAN FLINT) or advanced technology like weapons using sound, as in the DUNE movies.

The weapons in Episode 2 of Season 4 of STAR TREK:  STRANGE NEW WORLDS are all sharp knives and objects such as a pair of scissors and a large kitchen knife. The attacks in the episode all bring the appropriate looks of horror among the victims (whereas science fiction movies and TV program often evoke look of awe and wonder).

Like the horror movie, the science fiction movie frequently shows humans in a new and/or strange context, testing them against the unknown. However, science fiction movies do this in a more detached, less personal, way. Often, therefore, the moral chaos of the horror movie becomes a social chaos in the science fiction movie. Of course, science fiction is also about the future and our hopes and anxieties for the future. Technology can play a key role in all of this.

At one point in the script, Captain Pike says he’s referred six cases to Division 12, the Starfleet division that handles unexplained phenomenon. He adds that, in four of the cases, Division 12 was able to resolve the situation in favor of a scientific explanation or an alien life form explanation. The two other cases remain unresolved, he says. STAR TREK creators use science and/or aliens to explain things in the plot. However, this episode ends on a note that echoes what Hamlet said to his friend, Horatio, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” In this case, the ending to Episode 4.2 suggests that there’s a supernatural world out there that we must acknowledge.

In addition to this positive theme, Episode 4.2 shows the heroes of the Starship Enterprise fighting demonic delusions by offering sacrifices and by focusing on family and the rational faculties derived from the Creator. For example, Spock offers to sacrifice himself for others, a plot point that echoes what happens in the classic STAR TREK movie, THE WRATH OF KHAN. Also, it is his recitation of a poem that helps him focus on logic that saves him from the demonic delusions he suffers. Furthermore, Kirk’s brother, Sam, tells Kirk that he tries to get back home to be with his wife and two sons every chance he gets. Sam’s habit has an important lesson for Kirk, but the story wonders if Kirk has learned the lesson too late to make a difference in his life and the lives of those he loves.

The episode’s ending also has a moving theme of PTSD that affects Kirk and Spock, as well as La’An. As such, the ending suggests that Kirk, Spock and La’An’s future will be impacted by the PTSD they’ve suffered in this episode. It will be interesting to see if and how the creators behind STRANGE NEW WRLDS will use this theme to make more connections to the original STAR TREK series. Whatever happens, thought, the episode’s ending reflects the hopes and anxieties for the future that Kirk, La’An and Uhuru have. As for Spock, the episode implies that his experience on the Griffin will lead him to pursue his penchant for logic with a renewed vigor.

All this said, Episode 2 of Season 4 of STAR TREK:  STRANGE NEW WORLDS has several scary scenes of bloody violence. For example, one demonically possessed character cuts off his fingers with a large kitchen knife and another character cuts off the top of one of Spock’s Vulcan ears. Episode 2 of Season 4 also has some light foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.