Paul Wesley took on the role of Star Trek icon James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, or rather an alternate timeline version of the character in the Strange New Worlds Season 1 finale. Wesley reprises his role as Kirk in Strange New Worlds Season 2 as yet another alternate version in the season's third episode. Titled "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," the episode pares down the usual Strange New Worlds' ensemble for a tighter team-up story across time and space, running the gamut of tones Season 2 has brought to the forefront to great effect.
After encountering a dying man on the Enterprise who gives her a strange device, Chief Security Officer La'an Noonien-Singh is transported to an alternate timeline where Starfleet does not exist. Meeting the Kirk of this timeline, Noonien-Singh and the mysterious officer are suddenly transported to 21st-century Toronto at a point before their timelines diverge. As the two time-displaced officers blend into the past, they learn they must prevent a catastrophe that will cause the alternate Kirk's timeline from coming to fruition.
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is really a showcase for Christina Chong's La'an Noonien-Singh, which she takes full advantage of throughout the entire episode. Noonien-Singh is one of Strange New Worlds' more closed-off characters, at least in terms of how she carries herself in public, and this episode gives her the chance to be vulnerable around Kirk despite her initial misgivings. Even though the episode starts light-hearted, once she and Kirk arrive in Toronto, Chong gets to delve into some especially raw territory for La'an, taking the character through love, loss, and her own personal heart of darkness.
Wesley gets even more time to shine as Kirk here than he had in the Strange New Worlds Season 1 finale, heightening some of the inherent playfulness to Kirk while maintaining the character's usual determination. Wesley and Chong's on-screen chemistry powers much of the episode. The two play off each other quite well, having plenty of fun along the way. Fans waiting for Wesley to play the prime timeline's Kirk more fully may have a bit longer to wait, but judging by the episode's ending, that wait may soon be coming to an end.
At first, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" continues Strange New Worlds Season 2 comedic nature but way to darker tones in its final act. Noonien-Singh's journey to the past isn't just a pleasant detour to the 21st century but one that has serious links to her family heritage and stands the chance of affecting her future moving forward. The humor carries the episode along, but the drama and high stakes feel organic to the story and don't present the viewer with a jarring tonal whiplash.
This blend of tones and greater emphasis on character studies are becoming an effective trend across Strange New Worlds Season 2. Just as the preceding episode put the spotlight on Rebecca Romijn's Una Chin-Riley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" gives Chong's Noonien-Singh similar, well-deserved treatment. This episode continues the season's winning streak as the show tightens its narrative focus.
Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.