Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 2 - “Wedding Bell Blues"Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) narrowly avoid being tricked into marriage inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 2. “Wedding Bell Blues” is a joyous comedic masterpiece written by Kirstin Beyer and David Reed, and directed by Jordan Canning, that brings back a familiarspace god fromStar Trek: The Original Series.
Ultimately, Spock avoids marrying Chapel, who is in love with her new boyfriend,Dr. Roger Korby(Cillian O’Sullivan).“Wedding Bell Blues” allows Spock to move on from Christine, possibly into the arms of his new dance partner. Meanwhile, a new love may bloom for Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) while Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) copes with her trauma from the Gorn.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 2 also reveals thatCaptain Marie Batel(Melanie Scrofano) has had three months to recover from her Gorn infection, which has been absorbed into her DNA. Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) also favors his new help in Sickbay, Ensign Dana Gamble (Chris Myers). Here’swhat “Wedding Bell Blues'” ending means for the crew of the USS Enterprise.
Was Rhys Darby Playing Trelane In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?
Trelane In Strange New Worlds Avoids Breaking Star Trek Canon
Although he is never named inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 3, Rhys Darby evidently plays Trelane, the 8020-year-old space god played byWilliam Campbell inStar Trek: The Original Series'“The Squire of Gothos.” Trelane goes incognito as Spock’s wedding planner after answering the forlorn Vulcan’s wish that things could be different between him and Nurse Chapel.The wedding planner warped reality to bring about Spock and Chapel’s weddinginstead of the United Federation of Planets' Centennial celebration.
Trelane’s meddling in favor of Spock was also because the cosmic trickster inexplicably dislikes Dr. Roger Korby. Trelane saw Korby"digging in the dirt on the old homeworld"and was irritated by how"handsome"Roger is. Trelane followed Korby to Starbase One and decided to help Spock to ruin Korby’s love story with Chapel.Trelane even turned Korby into a dogduring the wedding ceremony.
It’s possible that the space god-child doesn’t choose to call himself"General Trelane, retired"and"The Squire of Gothos"untilStar Trek: The Original Series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldscleverly avoids violatingStar Trek: The Original Seriescanon becauseTrelane never shows his true appearance to the crew of the USS Enterprise. Spock saw Trelane as a Vulcan bartender-turned-wedding planner, while the rest of the USS Enterprise crew in Trelane’s thrall saw him as an Andorian. The audience saw Trelane’s preferred human-like, but no one on the Enterprise will untilStar Trek: The Original Series.
John de Lancie Cameos As Another Space God
That Is Indeed Q’s Familiar Voice
Just like inStar Trek: The Original Series' “The Squire of Gothos,” Trelane’s father arrives just in time to stop him from killing the entire crew of the Starship Enterprise.Trelane’s"dad"is voiced by John de Lancie, who playedQ inStar Trek: The Next Generationand various other series, includingStar Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsdoesn’t identify Trelane’s dad as a member of the Q Continuum, but John de Lancie lending his voice isa nod to the longtime belief that Trelane is one of the Q. However,Strange New Worldsdoesn’t confirm this either way, but nods towards the idea by casting John de Lancie as Trelane’s father’s voice.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsis the first time John de Lancie plays a different space god other than Q if he, indeed, didn’t reprise his iconic role in “Wedding Bell Blues.”
It’s unlikelyJohn de Lancie is playing QinStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, but the series also doesn’t confirm or deny this by his guest voice appearance. Since Q isn’t known to have children until the 24th century inStar Trek: Voyager,John de Lancie’s surprise cameo seems to be a fun Easter eggforStar Trekfans.
How Spock Broke Trelane’s Spell Over Nurse Chapel
Spock’s Understanding Of His Human Emotions Served Him Well
Lieutenant Spock called upon everything he learned about his human emotions to break Trelane’s spell overNurse Christine Chapel.When Roger Korby was able to snap Spock back to reality, he did it by angering the Vulcan enough thatSpock punched him. Spock and Korby surmised that anger and adrenaline could be the key to overcoming Trelane’s hold on reality.
When exchanging vows at their wedding, however, Spock determined that Christine was also struggling with Trelane’s false reality and knew how to push her to regain her senses.Spock quoted Pablo Neruda’s poem that led to Korby and Christine falling in love, and their quote about"the sun, the moon, and the stars.“This was enough to bring Christine to her senses.
It was the grand romantic gesture Spock had been wanting to make.
Spock breaking Trelane’s spell over Christine also allowed him to overcome his own desire for Chapel and accept that it’s over between them. This was the payoff for everything Spock learned from Christine about how to tap into his own human emotions. It was the grand romantic gesture Spock had been wanting to make, andhe selflessly used it to end his relationship with Chapel.
Lt. Erica Ortegas Is Traumatized By The Gorn
Ortegas Is Dealing With #Gorntegas
All is not well for Lieutenant Erica Ortegas. Three months after surviving being critically injured by the Gorn,Erica is nursing severe trauma.Erica is more aggressive when sparring with her younger brother, Beto (Mynor Luken), and she was so uncomfortable watching everyone dance to Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” that she left the Federation’s Centennial party early, which perplexed Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).
Rather than celebrating, Erica closed outStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3, episode 2 by pounding on a heavy bag in futility, as she is haunted by her memories of nearly being killed by the Gorn. Ironically, just asLieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh(Christina Chong) put her demons with the Gorn to bed, the alien reptiles have found another victim to haunt in Lt. Ortegas.Erica is also not sharing her trauma with others, which can only worsen her predicament.
Spock Finds A New Dance Partner
La’an’s Lightness Suits Her and Spock
While waiting for Nurse Chapel to return from her three-month sabbatical with Dr. Roger Korby, Lieutenant Spock has literally found a new dance partner in Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh. As Spock noted, there is a new"lightness"to La’anafter she faced and beat the Gorn inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3’s premiere.
La’an and Spock may be developing romantic feelings, but she has also patiently observed Spock’s discomfort with Chapel bringing her new boyfriend, Dr. Roger Korby, aboard the Enterprise. La’an also watched Spock’s speech that snapped Christine out of Trelane’s spell, and joined him on the dance floor.Spock and La’an are an intriguing potential pairingworth keeping an eye on.
Uhura’s First Star Trek Romance Could Be With Ortegas' Brother
Beto and Uhura Are Flirting Up A Storm
Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) lacked a love interest inStar Trek: The Original Series, butStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseems on course to correct that by romantically pairing Ensign Uhura with Beto Ortegas, who wants to make a documentary about the USS Enterprise.The younger Ortegas and Uhura have palpable flirtatious sparks, to Erica’s chagrin. Beto and Nyota also sought each other out at the Federation’s Centennial party.
Lt. Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) joining the crew of the USS Enterprise also creates the potential for Scotty and Uhura to begin their chemistry that was evident in theStar Trekmovies. However, Beto and Nyota are roughly the same age, and they are into each other from the get-go. Uhura looks like she will be getting her own “love story in outer space” asStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3 continues.
