This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 7.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is no stranger to bringing back characters from the franchise's past. As a prequel to The Original Series, the Paramount Plus production has made a habit of calling back — or forward — to the adventures of Captain Kirk by including new versions of old faces. As SNW Season 4 reaches its seventh episode, yet another legacy Star Trek character has reappeared, albeit in an unpredictable way.
In "Like Chronitons Through The Hourglass," the crew of the USS Enterprise is thrown into yet another wild reality-warping scenario as life on the ship is remade in the image of old-Earth soap operas, complete with a hazy sheen over the camera and lots of dramatic pauses. It is made clear from the off that this is Trelane's fault, with Rhys Darby making his second appearance on the show after debuting in Season 3. Trelane isn't the only Kirk-era Star Trek character to appear in the episode, however. The other is someone else who fans have been waiting to see since they were first teased way back in Season 1.
In Season 1, Episode 7, "The Serene Squall," space pirate Captain Angel hijacked the Enterprise, and he is ultimately revealed to be the spouse of Spock's half-brother, Sybok. The episode ended with a tantalizing shot of Sybok in his Vulcan prison cell, with his back turned to the camera. This seemed like a clear promise to the fans that Sybok would make a proper appearance on the show at a later date. Finally, Season 4 has delivered on that promise. Well, kind of.
In the altered reality Trelane creates in "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass," the Enterprise crew live out various classic tropes of soap opera storytelling. Pike has hit his head and now has amnesia, Uhura "discovers" that Pike is actually her biological father, and Spock is at death's door and needs a "live heart transplant." La'an's soap opera subplot, meanwhile, sees her liberate Sybok from jail as he is the perfect organ donor for his brother. Sybok makes his first full appearance in Strange New Worlds, played by Ethan Peck, in a dual role.
With Peck playing Sybok, the main guest star of the episode is Days of Our Lives icon Deidre Hall, who appears as the Enterprise's counselor, Dr. Chivers.
Of course, this is not the real Sybok, and the character in this soap opera reality — who comes complete with a long, flowing wig and open shirt — is a deliberate pastiche of cliché soap villains, playing with the common "evil sibling" trope. That said, the real Sybok's rejection of Vulcan logic is alluded to, as he lies and tricks La'an and even attempts to seduce her over to his side. It's only when Trelane's "spell" is over that La'an discusses the matter with Spock, and he confirms that, in reality, Sybok does not look identical to him as they are not twins. The soap opera Sybok was drawn from Spock's memories and La'an's imagination.
On the one hand, Sybok finally making an appearance in Strange New Worlds is a long time coming, and Ethan Peck delivers an entertaining performance in the role. Casting him as the Star Trek character is a clever nod to soap opera ridiculousness, and it also makes sense, seeing as he already played him from behind for that brief shot in "The Serene Squall." On the other, however, it is something of a shame that the real Sybok did not show up, as a reunion for Sarek's two sons has so much potential.
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