At first glance, the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is yet another high-concept romp full of hijinks. And while it's true that Season 4 has been stuffed with genre-bending episodes — from puppets to a soap opera riff — the truth is, Strange New Worlds has done some of its best character work in some of its wackiest episodes. Case in point, the now-famous musical episode from 2023, “Subspace Rhapsody,” actually did a fair amount of narrative heavy lifting for the Season 2 finale. And now, with Episode 9 of Season 4, “Once La’an a Time,” a storybook fairytale episode actually helps complete a character arc that La'an Noonien-Singh has been going through since the very first episode.
“This is what she's been trying to get to since Season 1,” Christina Chong tells Inverse. “This is kind of the ultimate lesson she's learned.”
