“I want to feel this.†That line would be an extraordinary admission coming from Spock in any context, but arriving at the end of “Charades,†an episode in which he’s been roiled by emotional chaos he could not control, it plays like a turning point for the character. Spock knows the cost emotions can exact, even beyond the pause he’s put on his relationship with T’Pring and whatever inevitable fallout that will create. But he’s willing to cast all that aside to be with Chapel. Or at least make the attempt; the episode cuts to black as they kiss enthusiastically, so who knows what happens next? It’s almost beside the point at this moment, however. “Charades†isn’t about consequences, because both Spock and Chapel are choosing to ignore them. It’s about getting them to the point where they can no longer resist one another.
It’s been a long time coming, and finally getting to it in “Charades†requires both Spock and Chapel getting through a lot of complications, some of them created by the innate awkwardness of their situation, some by an encounter with a long-vanished species encountered in the far side of the Vulcan system, specifically the moon of Kerkhov. It was once home to a now-vanished ancient civilization and thus of particular interest to Chapel, who’s in the final stages of interviewing for a Vulcan fellowship in archeological medicine (with, it would seem, the help of every other crew member in her social circle). She’s eager to talk about the principles of her field but less eager to talk about Spock, even though it’s widely acknowledged there’s something “weird†going on between them.
Meanwhile, Spock has begun channeling all that “weird†energy into other interests. With his emotions fully suppressed, he can spend time learning about cooking from Pike. But the thing about repression is it doesn’t really work. Spock can wordlessly clean up Samuel’s messes, but they still annoy him. He can sit stone-faced while others laugh at a joke and pretend he doesn’t wonder what he’s missing, but that doesn’t mean he’s not bothered by the moment. He’s invested all his energy into reuniting with T’Pring, but that’s gotten complicated too. She feels the need to have a ceremonial Vulcan engagement dinner sooner than planned due to Spock’s busy schedule and the fact that her mother, T’Pril (Ellora Patnaik), doesn’t really like Spock. It’s less than ideal timing, but Spock agrees to it anyway. Besides, all he’s got planned is a simple shuttle mission flying by the Kerkhovian moon. What could go wrong?
The problems start with the addition of an unexpected companion on the trip: Chapel. That forces them to be alone together, a situation Spock at least has been avoiding. They barely have a moment to deal with the situation before a rupture in space/time — one that may have a connection to the vanished Kerkhovians — disrupts the trip and causes a mysterious crash. Even more mysterious: When Spock wakes up back on the Enterprise, he’s now fully human, a development he greets with shock and a profanity interrupted by the opening credits.
It’s undoubtedly a WTF situation. Chapel seems fine. The shuttle is in better shape than ever (and has picked up a mysterious alien artifact). It’s only Spock who’s different. When Uhura, using the artifact, reaches out to a previously unknown alien species, “Yellow,†the alien who talks to Kirk, sounds friendly enough, but they also don’t really want to talk all that much. After telling Pike “remediation has been made,†they insist “no further contact is necessary†despite screwing up Spock with, in Yellow’s words, “mixed instructions.†Then they end the phone call, leaving Pike and the others to figure out their own fix for the situation.
Meanwhile, Spock is hungry. And effusive in his gratitude. And freaked out about the engagement dinner. And way too amused at others’ jokes. And super annoyed at Samuel’s messiness. And horny (and not just for Chapel). He’s, in contemporary terms, feeling all the feelings, and it’s weirding him and everyone else out. It’s La’an that cracks it: He’s essentially now an adolescent in an adult human body.
While Chapel and M’Benga look for a solution, Chapel has a brief, dismissive interview with the Vulcan in charge of her fellowship application. It bums her out and sends her into Spock’s arms for a nice warm hug. That, Chapel tells him, “wasn’t typical of you.†When Spock asks if that’s okay, she changes the subject. What might seem like an ideal situation for Chapel is anything but. She likes Spock the way he was, with all his frustrating reserve. This human Spock isn’t quite the same, and she wants the old one back. And maybe she’d have some time to explore those feelings if not for another complication: Spock’s mom Amanda (Mia Kirshner) has beamed aboard.
She’s come with some news: The engagement dinner, which has been hanging by a thread due to the frustrations of T’Pring’s family, is still on. In fact, it’s imminent. They’ll be holding it aboard the Enterprise tomorrow night. After a futile effort to keep his secret from Amanda, Spock comes clean, removing the stocking cap he’s donned to hide his decidedly un-Vulcan ears. With Pike, they agree to carry on with the (extremely complicated) engagement ceremony by hiding Spock’s humanity doing something alien to his Vulcan nature: faking it.
It requires a lot of preparation. Amanda walks him through a tea ritual that involves carrying a scalding-hot pot without flinching. La’an, Oretegas, Una, and Uhura offer a tutorial in talking like a Vulcan. These are the easy parts. The dinner will also involve listening to a string of criticisms from T’Pring’s parents and acting out a mind meld with Amanda. But no matter how extensive their prep, it doesn’t seem like Spock will be able to bluff his way through it.
It gets worse: Over at sick bay, Chapel has deduced that they’re under the gun in fixing Spock, who’s doomed to be fully human forever if they don’t crack this. She’s got a plan, however, one that involves talking to the Kerkhovians by going back to the site of the crash. After recruiting Ortegas and Uhura for the job, they’re off, and everyone’s fully committed to seeing this attempt through, no matter how much crazy maneuvering it takes. On the other side, Chapel talks to Blue (who sounds a bit like Yellow) about their bungled “remediation.â€
Eventually, Chapel gets an audience with Yellow, who’s not happy that this complaint is being lodged outside the response period. But she gives Chapel some information about the crash, specifically that Spock steered into the skid of the crash in a way that would protect her at the expense of his well-being. This confuses Yellow, but it clarifies things for Chapel, making it easier for her to say out loud for the first time that she has feelings for Spock, and for this, she’s rewarded with a cure.
While Chapel makes her desperate attempt, Spock reunites with T’Pring, who almost catches her fiancé in a lie when he laughs at an apparently unintentional joke in which she compares her mother to a creature who eats her young. It’s not a crazy comparison, though. When T’Pril and T’Pring’s father, Sevet (Michael Benyaer), arrives, the air thickens with tension, a situation T’Pril does nothing to alleviate. Sevet loves Pike’s attempt at Vulcan cuisine, but T’Pril squelches his enthusiasm before plunging directly into the ritual. If this is, in some ways, an engineered disaster, she’s eager to get to its catastrophic end.
And yet, somehow, the catastrophe never arrives. Spock pours the tea and grits his teeth through T’Pril’s criticisms, however deep they cut and even though they conclude with telling him he doesn’t deserve T’Pring. Still, he doesn’t think he can keep it up much longer, prompting Pike to propose a game of charades (as if they haven’t been playing one already). It’s a gambit that buys enough time for Chapel to return with a cure. She wastes no time bringing it to him, but she also wants an answer as to why he protected her during the crash. Spock admits his feelings are “confusing,†but before he can elaborate, Chapel administers the cure, assuring that his human Spock, and the ease with which he expresses himself, will recede.
With his Vulcan nature returned, Spock aces the rest of the ritual and then tops it off with a defense of his mom, his humanity, and humanity in general. This pleases Amanda (especially given the nature of the memory, which she later discusses with Spock) and makes T’Pril seethe, especially since it’s too late to end the engagement. But despite that achievement, T’Pring is hurt when she learns Spock kept his troubles from her and decides it’s best they take a break. She’s not the only one giving up in anger, either. Rejected by the Vulcans, Chapel decides to end the interview with a kiss-off.
Then Chapel and Spock reunite in private, where Spock reveals he and T’Pring are on the outs and that he has feelings for Chapel. Beyond that, he tells her, “I want to feel this.†They kiss and decide worrying about what happens next can wait.
Part farce, part rom-com, part first chapter of an impassioned love story (maybe), this was a fun episode and one with potentially far-reaching repercussions. Written by Kathryn Lyn and Henry Alonso Myers and directed by Jordan Canning, “Charades†somewhat unexpectedly brings Spock and Chapel together, but Strange New Worlds has a habit of not drawing out any ongoing story lines over that many episodes. (See also: M’Benga’s daughter and the secret of Una’s augmentation.) But it doesn’t feel like the end of the story. That’s in part because we know a bit about about the T’Pring/Chapel/Spock story plays out thanks to the original series, but also because it plays fair by T’Pring, who remains an appealing character who seems like a good match for Spock. Or she would if his heart weren’t elsewhere.
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• Of course, the fact that these characters have a history that played out in the original series creates some complications. Just as Pike is (unavoidably?) fated to have a horrible accident, thanks to “Amok Time,†we know Chapel and Spock are apparently also fated not to stay together, and Spock is fated not to marry T’Pring. But are they? It seems like the question of whether or not Pike’s destiny is preordained also applies elsewhere to the series. It takes place in the proper Trek canon, but this is a branch that also invented a sister for Spock we’d never heard of before. Whether or not it will be beholden to canon or perhaps find some loophole around it remains to be seen. These are the same characters, of course, but they’re also very much different interpretations of the characters. It might be unfair to bind them to what happens in the original series too closely. (Especially since Ethan Peck and Jess Bush have such terrific chemistry.)
• Poor Spock, silently suffering the “scent of humans†for so long.
Peck holding molded Vulcan ears, which are almost certainly similar to the ones he wears as Spock, is a nice meta touch, as are the scenes of him getting an acting class on how to behave like a Vulcan.
• Kirshner does some nice work as Amanda and we get a deeper sense of what she’s endured because she loves Sarek. Patnaik’s a lot of fun, too. It’s just a good episode for moms all around.