Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
It’s The Breakfast Club in hospital gowns, The Fault in Our Stars with a whole lotta company.
The Society is a mishmash of seriously sick teenagers all living in a hospital pediatric ward. Sixteen-year-old Leo is the group’s cancer-stricken leader, a guy who lost his leg to the disease but still has heart aplenty. He once dated Emma, a pretty 15-year-old with anorexia, but she has recently fallen into the orbit of Jordi, a moody newcomer who also has cancer. Emma’s way with the ward’s two most eligible bachelors is a constant frustration for one-time drug user Kara—a petulant mean girl who needs a new ticker. Dash gives the ward a bit of freeform levity, despite the fact that he has cystic fibrosis. And all the action is narrated by Charlie, a 12-year-old in a coma.
Forced to live together through circumstance and given a sense of solidarity through disease, these kids (with the possible exception of poor Charlie) become friends—almost family. And together they experience as much of adolescence as you can in a hospital, learning a few valuable lessons along the way, often summed up by Charlie in nice, cogent platitudes at the end of the episode.
They also get into their share of trouble: They play hooky from therapy sessions or cheat on their diets. They’ve been known to bolt from the hospital grounds and get drunk. Sometimes they kiss and canoodle, trying to round as many bases sexually as they can.
You’d think their parents would put a stop to some of that but, of course, they’re typically not around much. Oh, they’ll show up for the occasional visit, often providing as much strife as comfort. (An example: Tara’s lesbian moms are at first more concerned with turning her heart condition into a tweet-worthy cause than truly caring for their suffering daughter.) But for the most part, guiding these sick teens to adulthood is the unofficial job of the hospital staff. Nurse Jackson, the ward’s unquestioned queen bee, dispenses tough-love wisdom with a firm hand, trying to provide as much normalcy as possible. Newbie Nurse Brittany is the floor’s “good cop”—and a bit of a pushover for her ward-wise charges.
The result is a bit like the offerings at a hospital cafeteria. There’s some good stuff to pick up now and then, but it’s mostly the television equivalent of mystery meat. These characters learn to care for one another—but sometimes they show it in inappropriate ways. They try to live boldly in the face of frightening challenges—but sometimes “living boldly” takes them into areas where they shouldn’t be. They’re learning about life like a lot of teens do, a bit through some wise advice, a bit through trial and error.
But the advice isn’t always great and their errors aren’t always called out as such. And so this crass catnip for the emotionally overwrought can actually make you feel a little … sick.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Jordi’s supposed to have his cancerous leg amputated, but his docs change their minds. Leo, who already had his leg amputated, is understandably angry about this. Kara’s moms, meanwhile, try to figure out a way to get Kara higher priority for an available heart. “We didn’t become Out magazine’s seventh-most powerful lesbian couple in Southern California by working our way up a frickin’ list,” one says.
Leo and Dash, both 16, illicitly leave the hospital and crash a frat party. Leo drinks heavily and almost has sex with a girl. (The two go into a bedroom where she strips off her shirt and begins unbuckling his pants before he calls a stop to it.) Brittany fetches Leo from the party and, in her nurse outfit, is mistaken for a stripper. (A student asks how much she charges for a private lap dance.)
Kara lashes out at Emma for having good parents and tells her that “most girls I know would kill to have an eating disorder.” Emma sticks rolls of quarters into her bra so she’ll weigh more during a weight check. Kara’s mother refers to an effeminate male nurse as “girlfriend.” Teens make crude references to critical bits of anatomy and to sexual arousal. A doctor flirts with a woman at a bar while drinking. A reference is made to smoking. We hear “a–,” “d–n,” “b–ch,” and “d–k” (two or three times each). God’s name is abused a half-dozen times.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
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