Since its inception in 1964 and its first airing in 1966, Star Trek has always been a blend of genres and influences. While Strange New Worlds has become known for its genre-hopping antics — Season 4 alone has dropped a horror episode and a comedic Hangover-style romp — this version of Trek did not invent the homage episode. However, with Episode 4 of Strange New Worlds, Star Trek does something a little more ambitious. In a sense, this episode, “A Case of Chiaroscuro,” is a sci-fi remake of aspects of the 1942 classic Casablanca, with several twists.
And the best part of this episode is that, unlike some other old-timey, genre-bending episodes of Star Trek, nothing in the script or story of “A Case of Chiaroscuro” winks at what it's homaging. Instead, the strength of the episode is that it’s not kidding around at all.
