Whether it's reimagining classic episodes of the Original Series or hanging out on dangerously faulty holodecks, "Strange New Worlds" has never been afraid to boldly go where someone has gone before. Continuing that long-running tradition, everything about this week's episode "Terrarium" feels like a throwback to previous "Treks". Even so, this derivative final frontier "Robinson Crusoe" is one of the most compelling instalments of the season.
It was a long-running joke that ace pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) never got to leave the driving seat of the Enterprise. Since her dreams of away missions were belatedly realized in the season 2 finale "Hegemony, Part One", however, it's been a case of "be careful what you wish for". That close encounter with the Gorn nearly killed her, and now — just as she seems to be recovering from the physical and mental scars from her ill-fated mission to Parnassus Beta — she's piloting retrofitted shuttlecraft Archimedes into an area of extreme gravimetric volatility. What could possibly go wrong?
