Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets black and white — and explores all the shades of grey in between, in “A Case of Chiaroscuro” — a romp through the noir genre that evoked many of the same feelings I got watching classic episodes of The Original Series.
When Commander Una (Rebecca Romijn) leads a landing party consisting of Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) into Klingon space to rescue a stranded Federation probe, their shuttle is forced to hide on Mat’aar XII. There, the away team becomes embroiled in the planet’s fight for freedom against Klingon occupation.
I really liked “A Case of Chiaroscuro.” While it is not a perfect episode, it hits the balance between Strange New Worlds’ genre hopping while still keeping the episode feeling like an episode of Star Trek. And specifically this week, an episode of the Original Series. At multiple points throughout the episode, I could picture Kirk, McCoy, and TOS-era Uhura in place of Una, M’Benga, and SNW-era Uhura. The vibe was right for that show; an alien world that feels oddly familiar yet still alien, tense confrontations with the Klingons, long scenes and quiet conversations.
The noir genre was deployed well. With some hand-waving technobabble — it’s because of the infrared black body spectrum radiation don’t you know? — the episode’s black and white color palette is established and maintained throughout the episode. It certainly adds to the midcentury vibe, which is compounded by the many classic noir tropes and homages to the production techniques of the height of noir filmmaking.
It also felt like the use of genre wasn’t the gimmick that I felt it was during last week’s “Human Best Friend.” The noir trappings contributed to the character beats of the episode’s leads with Una as the strong and silent protagonist dropped into a mystery she needs to bluff her way through, Dr. M’Benga as the quiet and all knowing ally with a dark past, Uhura as the young assistant who needs to grow up quickly in an unfamiliar place. “A Case of Chiaroscuro” surfaces Una’s regrets about her past, continues M’Benga’s difficult relationship with the Klingons, and also extends La’an’s arc of paranoia and aggression that has been building this season back on the ship.
As a result, the episode’s selected genre contributes to and does not distract from the underlying story being told. And that underlying story is ultimately a noble one; Starfleet officers working to help an oppressed people rise up and resist Klingon oppression. Mat’aar XII’s airships and art deco city are fully under Klingon control, with patrols, checkpoints, loyalty tests, random arrests, and more. And it’s all overseen by the planet’s Klingon overseer, Commander Kor (Demore Barnes).
Barnes does a competent job portraying the Klingon made famous by John Colicos in Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He captures some of Colicos’s mannerisms and almost matches the gravitas of his line delivery in a few places. I think the character might have benefited from Kor’s signature beard to create more of a visual tie back to the original character, but overall I thought the inclusion of Kor was fitting and added to the feeling that this episode of Strange New Worlds might have been picked directly from the original Star Trek.
I am curious how this episode will land with the audience, because it felt like it was making a decision to lean into more than just the look and feel or a noir story. The scenes felt longer and the dialogue felt denser than in a typical episode of Strange New Worlds, and I had a great time with it. I think the show benefits when its characters have more time to breathe and actually interact with each other… but will modern audiences think it’s too slow? I can certainly see that being a criticism.
But what the noir stylings of the episode allowed for was long scenes with Una, M’Benga, and Uhura. Una particularly has been underutilized in Strange New Worlds to date, and so having her lead an episode was extremely welcome. It’s fun to see her working to figure things out, knowing when to get involved and when to stay out, and the final resolution is extremely well done.
Una gives the resistance traitor the opportunity to be a good man and live, and he makes the choice to betray them to the Klingons and suffer the consequences of his choice when the detonator in his pocket triggers the explosion that brings down the Klingon’s shield over the planet. It’s also fun to see M’Benga’s history with the Klingons also play a key role in the episode. And the costuming in this episode is great.
I don’t think all of the noir tropes totally worked, though. The episode hinges on Una’s appearance matching that of the Mat’aaran resistance leader and double agent Nevette. Noir movies like The Hollow Triumph, Dead Ringer, and Vertigo feature some variation on the plot revolving around two characters being identical, but in the case of Strange New Worlds, I felt the explanation was a little too handwaved by M’Benga when he said something to the effect of “in a universe as vast as ours, that we don’t stumble on our doppelgangers more often is the bigger mystery.”
I can go with it in this instance because it does make the episode more interesting and gets our characters into the mix quickly, but it’s one of those moments that stands out as being a break of the fourth wall towards this week’s genre rather than because it feels like an organic part of an episode of Star Trek.
My other criticism is that Kor appears with head ridges. (I know! I know!) Strange New Worlds is the same visual reboot of 23rd century Star Trek that started with Discovery. It is the same universe, same characters, and same continuity, but it has been visually updated to work for a modern audience. And I have mostly made my peace with that, almost a decade since Discovery premiered.
But the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes “Affliction” and “Divergence” established that Klingons without ridges in the original Star Trek was not just a visual cue but had a story explanation as well. That of course complicated Deep Space Nine’s visual reboot when Kor came back with full ridges, but Strange New Worlds has complicated it again even further.
I know I am in the small minority of Strange New Worlds viewers who would have understood what was happening if Demore Barnes walked on screen without Klingon ridges, but I was hoping we’d either never see The Original Series Klingons or that Strange New Worlds would find a way to reconcile everything together. They chose not to and just to go with the idea hinted at in “Blood Oath” that Klingons have ALWAYS had ridges, but I’m a little disappointed by that choice.
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
- I really do not like the new Vulcan cadet, A’Sha (Bianca Nugara). In both this episode and “Valles Marineres,” she has been extremely rude to superior officers in a way that feels like a deep misunderstanding of what Vulcans are like. Enterprise ultimately corrected for its depiction of asshole Vulcans by the fourth season, and Strange New Worlds should know better than this.
- Kor is described as a descendant of the Klingon Imperial Family, and of Kahless the Unforgettable. While that aligns with Memory Alpha’s description of Kor as a “descendant of the Klingon Imperial Family” and that the Imperial Family “were direct descendants of Kahless the Unforgettable,” the mention of Kor’s lineage comes from “Once More Unto the Breach” where Martok says he “descends from the Imperial Court itself.” I think Memory Alpha is not correctly interpreting the source material here — being a descendant of the “Imperial Court” feels more like he’s descended from a house that was close to but not related to Kahless — but I credit them for trying to reconcile everything together across multiple episodes.
- The Klingon song that appears in this episode has appeared multiple times in the franchise, beginning with the Deep Space Nine episode “The Way of the Warrior.”
If Klingon makeup is all I have to complain about, then this is a pretty good episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The genre added to the story and the character work, the episode was dark yet ultimately hopeful, and I am happy any time we get more Una.
After a couple of episodes of Strange New Worlds that just did not work for me, “A Case of Chiaroscuro” is a very nice palette cleanser — and the most Original Series-esque episode we’ve gotten in a long time.