TL;DR – A beautiful end to a season, and hopefully not an end of a series.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

Alas, we have come to the end of the second and hopefully not last season of Star Trek: Prodigy. What a season it was. We will take some time a bit later to explore the season as a whole, but before that, we need to dive into this incredible season finale that went places I was not expecting at all.

So, to set the scene, after Asencia (Jameela Jamil) attacked the USS Voyager-A and the USS Protostar, it became clear that something had to happen before she did irreparable harm to The Federation with her time weapons. The problem is that Starfleet is already spread so far that there is no one else about to get out that far to help them. The combined crews need to stop them fast because, little do they know, Asencia has captured Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and mined his mind for secrets she can use to cause galaxy-wide chaos. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Going into this final two-parter, you can really feel that the writers understood the assignment because they have so much story to get through, and it blasts through at an incredible pace. However, it never feels rushed, which is such a tight balancing act to get right. It also makes sure to give time to all of our core crew to make sure that Dal (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero (Angus Imrie), Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), and also Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) all get to have at least one hero moment during the proceedings. It is that love for the characters and their stories that helps smooth over some of the elements that are needed because of where the show is pitched.

For me, I think the first half was the stronger of the two, mainly because it is the focal point of everything this season has been building to. Sure, Wesley Crusher did their [not Doctor Who-ish but totally Doctor Who-ish] manipulations to make everything happen the way they wanted. But that didn’t undercut the tension. Even though in the back of my head, I knew how Star Trek Picard & Star Trek Discovery ended, which are set after this episode, so I should have known there was no tension. That didn’t change the fact that there were multiple moments throughout that first episode where I thought we were going to lose characters. I mean, if you had asked me back at the start of Season 1 if Murf would be one of my favourite characters, I would have laughed. Yet here I was on the edge of my seat because I thought they had made a noble sacrifice.

The second part of the episode is still great in that it is all resolution; however, it is not helped by the least surprising appearance of The Loom. However, while the ending was generally predictable till they got back to Starfleet Academy, I absolutely did not see it coming that they were going to tie the show directly into Star Trek: Picard via the Short Trek Children of Mars. However, while tying the show into the wider Star Trek world was appreciated. More than any of that, it was a way of showing the love the show has for its cast. Having Dal know that they should be the second in command was the perfect end to their story and their growth through the season. It is those character beets that make, say, the scene with the combadge hit hard. You care about all of them, so the emotion lands.  

Looking back at the season as a whole, I think it is fair to say that this is some of the best Star Trek that we have gotten this generation. As much as I enjoyed the first season, there were some rocky moments and some awkward progression in places. However, this season, you can feel that the writers have built on what worked from the first season and actively tweaked those sections that didn’t quite come together. I think you can see that the best in the character arcs throughout the season, as everyone builds confidence in who they are. This is helped by a voice cast who now deeply understand their characters, and you can see them bring that work to life.

On top of that, it is clear that the writers also understood all the legacy characters they were working with this season. Getting Wil Wheaton to do what if Wesley Crusher became a Time Lord after leaving with the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) could have just been a silly bit. However, they filled it with a joy that just landed. The show went out of its way to connect Wesley back in with his family, bridging that gap with Star Trek Picard and that moment with Beverly (Gates McFadden), which was profoundly touching. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has always been fantastic in the show, but this season, we got double the Janeway, and it was double as good. Finally, Prodigy did something seven seasons of Voyager never did: write Chakotay as an interesting character.               

The one thing I can say when I think about this season is that it clearly showed the love of Star Trek at every turn. If Star Trek Picard has rehabilitated Star Trek Nemesis, then I think we can say that Star Trek Prodigy has gone a long way in the rehabilitation of Endgame. Some moments are just such deep cuts that you have to sit back and be amazed, looking at you USS Cairo. Then you have those moments that just bring you joy, like The Doctor (Robert Picardo) talking about his holo-novels or Jankom exclaiming, “Even the whales are evil!”. Oh, and hats out to the show, not only showing Cetacean Ops but also using it in the show.

Prodigy is one of those shows where there is just so much to talk about. There is how they managed to have multiple different timelines happening all at once and kept it coherent. Then, there were the visuals, which were simply stunning. Some of the best starscapes in all of science fiction can be found here. There is the musical score that craftily gives us hints of music from times past while also charting its own voice. You had ideas like a planet Ysida with oceans of high-density vapour, which was both visually and conceptually fascinating. Oh, and let’s not forget that Rok-Tahk fixed Tribbles. Wherever you turned, there was always something interesting to find.

In the end, do we recommend Star Trek: Prodigy – Ouroboros, Part 1 & Part 2? Absolutely. I honestly hope this is not the last time we see the crew of the USS Protostar. They brought such joy to this show and the wider Star Trek world. However, if this is the end, I am glad we ended on such a high note, an optimistic note, one that you can champion going forward.   

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Star Trek: Prodigy yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Star Trek: Prodigy
Directed by – Sean Bishop, Ruolin Li, Ben Hibon, Patrick Krebs, Andrew L. Schmidt & Sung Shin,
Written by – Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman, Aaron J. Waltke, Erin McNamara, Jennifer Muro, Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, Keith Sweet II & Alex Hanson
Created by – Kevin & Dan Hageman
Based On – Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry & Star Trek: Voyager by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Studios, Nickelodeon & Netflix
Starring – Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, Angus Imrie, Rylee Alazraqui, Dee Bradley Baker, John Noble, Jameela Jamil, Jimmi Simpson, Wil Wheaton, Robert Picardo, Robert Beltran & Kate Mulgrew with Michaela Dietz, Jason Alexander, Daveed Diggs, Gates McFadden, Bonnie Gordon, Billy Campbell, Eric Menyuk & Ronny Cox and Susanne Blakeslee, John Pirkis, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Erin MacDonald, James Mathis III, Debra Wilson, Christine Rose Schermerhorn, Griffin Burns, Valeria Rodriguez, MacGregor Middleton, Jorge Gutierrez, Eric Bauza, Sunkrish Bala, Kari Wahlgren, John Pirkis, Fred Tatasciore, Ben Thomas & Isabel Krebs  
Episodes Covered – Into the Breach, Part I, Into the Breach, Part 2, Who Saves the Saviors, Temporal Mechanics 101, Observer’s Paradox, Imposter Syndrome, The Fast and the Curious, Is There in Beauty No Truth?, The Devourer of All Things, Part I, The Devourer of All Things, Part 2, Last Flight of the Protostar, Part I, Last Flight of the Protostar, Part 2, A Tribble Called Quest, Cracked Mirror, Ascension, Part I, Ascension, Part 2, Brink, Touch of Grey, Ouroboros, Part 1 & Ouroboros, Part 2.