"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" just soared into its second season on Paramount+ last month, and the new offering is already a respectable continuation of the sci-fi thrills that the premiere season gave us last year.
As the acclaimed series throttles up from impulse power deeper into its sophomore run, now's the perfect time to reflect on the exceptional second episode, "Ad Astra Per Aspera," a traditional courtroom drama finding Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) on trial after being arrested by the Federation for lying about her Illyrian genetic modifications. In addition, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) is recruiting Nera, an intense Illyrian lawyer (Yetide Badaki) to defend her against a hostile Starfleet tribunal out to slam her with a dishonorable discharge — or worse.
