Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08, "The Elysian Kingdom" (2022) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! It's Friday. Which means it's time for another Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode review. This week I'm reviewing episode 8, "The Elysian Kingdom". So let's get right into it shall we?

This is probably the most fun episode of the series so far. It's also the episode that is most like two Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. It has elements from the season 5 episode, "Imaginary Friend" and the season 7 episode, "Masks". But it was just a fun episode overall.

I loved how different each of the characters were when they were being the characters from Doctor M'Benga's book. Seeing Anson Mount playing a snivelling underling is pretty hilarious and a bit refreshing given that he normally plays leaders. Also, seeing Ortegas as a badass chief of security was exactly what I've wanted all season. Plus, seeing her fight with a sword was pretty fun too.

I'm not giving major spoilers in this review because this is one episode that I want you to see for yourselves if you haven't watched it already. I do like that they teamed M'Benga up to with Hemmer in this episode. They actually worked quite well together. 

The regular Enterprise sets looked absolutely amazing with the added jungle/forest foliage hanging in the corridors and places like Sickbay. And seeing M'Benga sit in the captain's chair as his throne (he's the king from the story afterall) was pretty awesome. 

One thing I'm a little concerned about is whether the writers took M'Benga's only interesting storyline by wrapping up everything up with his daughter, Rukiya. I get that there's only two episodes left in the season, but we still have season 2 coming up and hopefully seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 as well. What are they gonna do that's as personal for M'Benga as trying to help his daughter? And what's going to take him out of the chief medical officer's position long enough for Dr. Piper (from the second TOS pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before") and then Dr. McCoy to fill it? I guess we'll find out in future seasons.

That's all I want to say about this week's episode. It's lots of fun and I never once checked out while I was watching it. Yes, it was ridiculous, but sometimes ridiculous is necessary in an episode of Star Trek and I am so happy that the people behind the scenes of Strange New Worlds recognize and acknowledge that. Especially these days.

And that my friends is it for me for today. I will be back sometime this weekend with the weekly geek news segment so until then have a wonderful rest of the day, if you can, and I will talk to you later. Take care.