After a triumphant debut season last year, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for its second season with an action-packed premiere episode. Titled "The Broken Circle," the season premiere encapsulates much of the second season's strengths and relative shortcomings as it brings its main ensemble back together. Fortunately, there are significantly more hits than misses with Strange New Worlds Season 2's big swings, signaling a continuation of what made the inaugural season so endearing to fans and critics alike.
With the Enterprise's Number One, Una Chin-Riley, in Starfleet custody for lying about her Illyrian heritage and illegal genetic modifications, Captain Christopher Pike abruptly leaves to clear her name. This leaves Spock in command of the starship, and though Admiral Robert April has ordered the Enterprise to remain in Spacedock for a rehaul, Spock and the crew decide to respond to a distress signal from La'an Noonien-Singh. In reuniting with their wayward Chief Security Officer, the Enterprise finds a threat festering against the entire United Federation that plunges the crew into radically different roles to save the day.
"The Broken Circle" throws in everything from high-flying action, hard-hitting fistfights, and big character moments for most of its main cast as a sort of welcome back for the audience. The season premiere does count on viewers having seen or at least being familiar with some of the big narrative beats from Strange New Worlds Season 1. Most notably, there is a tonal lightness to the proceedings, despite the high stakes, with even Spock getting in on the episode's more humorous beats. The comedic flourishes might put off some viewers, but they aren't jarring to the overall tone of the episode as Strange New Worlds brings the band back together.
The visual effects remain among the best of Paramount+'s growing wave of Star Trek programming, from rocky planetscapes to cosmic sequences set in deep space. The fight sequences aren't the best the show has seen so far, but they are well-choreographed, giving the episode more grounded action. There is a lot of ground covered in this season premiere, and that the episode balances and paces it all so well is a testament to the show's quality.
The standout performers for the Strange New Worlds Season 2 premiere are Babs Olusanmokun's Doctor Joseph M'Benga and Jess Bush's Nurse Christine Chapel. Trapped on the Enterprise with hostile forces on board, the two have to think quickly and act rashly to save themselves and their starship. The two actors more than deliver on the intensity required of them. Ethan Peck's Spock similarly turns in a great performance, from Spock facing the pressures of command to reconciling with his conflicted feelings about Chapel.
"The Broken Circle" feels like Strange New Worlds picking up where Season 1 left off and then some, diving back into the thick of what made its preceding season great. There are more visible threads between episodes, particularly in regard to Pike and Chin-Riley's whereabouts for much of the season premiere, but the episode itself still feels relatively contained. Season 1 ended with a number of major plot threads loosely dangling to follow up on, and Season 2 has already resolved a number of them while opening new avenues for the show to explore.
Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.