The following contains spoilers for “Under the Cloak of War.”

“Some things break in a way that can never be repaired, only managed.” It’s the final line in a powerhouse episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. “Under the Cloak of War” lays out a host of questions about memory, grief and redemption – reiterating the key obsessions of this season – none of which it could possibly answer. For some shows, this would be a bad thing, but Strange New Worlds is becoming increasingly comfortable living with ambiguity. Much as I may be flush with recency bias, I already feel it may be the standout of the season.

The Enterprise has been asked to carry Dak'Rah (An unrecognizable Robert Wisdom), a successful, but deeply controversial, Federation ambassador to the Prospero system. Controversial because he’s a Klingon who defected during the recent war, who is also known as the “Butcher of J’Gal.” Not just because of the orders he gave, including massacring his own civilians, but because he killed all of his generals just before he defected. Dak'Rah is embraced by Pike, Una and Uhura as a beacon of hope for a more peaceful future. But Ortegas, who fought in the war, and M’Benga and Chapel, who actually served in a field hospital on J’Gal, can’t get over the past, or their own pain. 

We flash back to Chapel’s arrival on J’Gal, where she’s greeted by Trek good luck charm Clint Howard’s commanding officer. Her orientation lasts for all of a minute before she’s picking up casualties from the transporter pad and trying to save them without key medical tech. One soldier gets loaded into the pattern buffer to keep him alive until rescue arrives, while others get operated on the old-fashioned way. M’Benga and Chapel quickly bond over their rough time in the medical trenches, and develop a shorthand to help each other along.

Paramount+

In the present, Pike asks all three to quell their objections and come to dinner with Dak'Rah, who is trying to hold court over the captain’s table. None of them are able to make nice for too long, and Ortegas quickly leaves, with Chapel following behind. Pike notices that while M’Benga remains, he’s gripping the arms of his seat so tightly that he’s about to rip them off, and asks him to go look after the absent pair. But not before Ra, knowing that M’Benga loves martial arts, asks to set up a session between the two with an arm grip that’s a little too aggressive.

Back on J’Gal, M’Benga treats a wounded soldier who wonders what the point of this battle really is. The doctor gives a rousing speech, bringing to mind the “you want me on that wall” speech from Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men. He says the risk of Klingon expansionism is too great, and that Starfleet fights so that others can live their lives in peace. But while the speech is effective, it’s delivered a little too convincingly, especially given we soon learn that M’Benga used to be the guy wielding the knife rather than the scalpel.

Soon after, a special forces commander asks M’Benga for some Protocol 12, the green steroids M’Benga and Chapel used in “The Broken Circle.” As annoyed as I was that M’Benga himself created it – I’m never a fan of secret origin stories where the same five characters are at the center of literally everything in the universe – I was pleased we didn’t get an over-explanation of its genesis. The doctor refuses, so the commander asks if M’Benga himself, under his old guise of “The Ghost” will join the team on its daring mission given how effective his murder skills are, or were.

The military is planning to send a small unit to try and wipe out J’Gal’s leaders once and for all, while committing the bulk of its forces to a grand frontal assault as a distraction. The soldier M’Benga previously patched up is going back out there to get chopped up, everyone knowing ahead of time they’re being sent to the meat grinder. But the Klingons are ready for them, disabling the field hospital’s power generators, preventing them from saving the casualties as they pile up. Chapel gets a transporter online, but can’t activate it without wiping the soldier who was kept in the pattern buffer earlier, something M’Benga does with little hesitation.

Back on the ship, M’Benga and Dak'Rah start their sparring session, with Dak'Rah doing his best to try and make nice with the doctor. He talks about how good the symbolism of two former enemies, quite literally on the opposite sides of the same battle, standing side-by-side would be. But M’Benga can’t bring himself to be friends, just allies, and soon starts to ask Dak'Rah which of his generals fought the hardest during his final day on J’Gal. Dak'Rah can’t answer, because it wasn’t Dak'Rah that killed them, but M’Benga, hopped up on his own fury steroids and looking for revenge.

The Enterprise takes a shortcut to get their unwanted Klingon off the ship before someone gets hurt, but not before Dak'Rah once again goes to M’Benga. The Doctor is looking at his little personal effects case, which includes a D’k tahg he kept as a reminder from J’Gal. They discuss the fallout from their prior discussion, with M’Benga angry that Dak'Rah has used the deaths M’Benga caused to launder his own reputation. We cut, then, to the other side of the doctor’s office, through partially-opaque glass, as the pair scuffle, before cutting back to Dak'Rahdead on the floor with a dagger in his chest.

Chapel provides cover for M’Benga, saying Dak'Rah caused the fight, which M’Benga agrees to, despite Pike pressing him for an off-the-record admission of guilt. He tells his captain he’s not responsible, but he’s glad his old enemy is he kept as a reminder from J’Gal. They discuss the fallout from their prior discussion, with M’Benga angry that Dak'Rah has used the deaths M’Benga caused to launder his own reputation. We cut, then, to the other side of the doctor’s office, through partially-opaque glass, as the pair scuffle, before cutting back to Dak'Rah dead on the floor with a dagger in his chest.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

If there’s one thing that Star Trek (both back in the day and now) can sometimes forget, it’s that history doesn’t just happen to other people. As much as it focuses on the great people of history making soliloquies on the bridge of their starships, that’s the start of things, not the end. Despite its apparent progressivism, it rarely engages with the material concerns of the ordinary people living and serving in Starfleet on that sort of level. That’s why the fact we got to see the Klingon war from something approaching the ground is a refreshing change.

And at the start of the season, I talked about how confident Strange New Worlds’ storytelling had become. Bursting out of the gate, even its weaker episodes were elevated by a production team pulling their hardest in the same direction. With a strong script, credited to writer/producer Davy Perez and directed by Jeff W. Boyd, there’s not much that can go wrong. It helps, too, that Strange New Worlds this year has restrained its urge to explain, and over-explain, every facet of what’s going on. But what really makes this episode is the towering, blockbuster performance by Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga who, once again, demonstrates he’s this series secret weapon.

It’s Olusanmokun who holds the broad tangle of ideas in this script together, including the key issues around memory, grief and forgiveness. There’s a clear dichotomy between those in the crew who are motivated for revenge and those who are looking toward a better future. I’m sure that particular conflict can be mapped over several real-world fault lines, for better or worse. The episode, wisely, doesn’t necessarily take one side over the other, although the fact M’Benga and Chapel are our POV characters this week means we’re already on side.

It’s a shame that there’s less emphasis on making Dak'Rah as fully rounded-out a character as he could, or should be. He’s not given space to justify Pike’s faith in him, and it’s clear pretty much as soon as he arrives that he’s ever so slightly phony. Much of this can be attributed to our old enemy running time, and the fact that Strange New Worlds’ storytelling is that much more ambitious this time out. But I’m never going to criticize a series for having too many ideas and not enough time to explore all of them in enough detail.

Oh, and I wanted to draw attention to Strange New Worlds’ excellent use of virtual stages both here and for much of the season. The world of J’Gal feels pretty believable, rendered as a living backdrop behind the field hospital in the flashback sequences. Given the cost and logistical demands of trying to set up a series of night shoots on rough terrain, I can understand why the team opted to shoot the scene in the studio. But while keen-eyed fans will be looking for the edges of the stage, the atmosphere feels a lot more real than if they were acting in front of a green screen.

It’s clear now that each season of Strange New Worlds conforms to a similar shape across its run. After a mission-setting premiere, you get three episodes exploring standard Trek tropes, with a focus on Una and La’an. Episode five is a Spock-heavy romantic comedy romp, followed by a heavy episode that emphasizes the season’s overall theme. Seven is a lighter episode, while eight is primarily focused on Dr. M’Benga, while nine is one of two big showcase episodes to cap the season. And I’m hoping I get some credit for clocking – last year – that we were going to see a musical episode, which is what we’re getting next week.

Ever since Strange New Worlds’ second season was announced, the big draw has been the crossover episode with animated sitcom Lower Decks. It would see Tawny Newsome (Mariner) and Jack Quaid (Boimler) taking their until-now animated characters into live action. Following an early screening at Comic-Con, the episode is now available to watch on Paramount Plus.

The following article contains spoilers for “Those Old Scientists.”

There’s an SNL sketch where William Shatner, as himself, exhorts a room full of Star Trek fans to “Get a Life!” It’s clearly intended in jest, given Shatner’s barely-suppressed smile and a twist where Phil Hartman’s manager forces him to instantly recant his rant. Depending on who you ask, the sketch was either taken in the spirit it was intended, or with outrage amongst fans who felt mischaracterized, and misunderstood. But it’s this dichotomy, between the legend and the truth that’s mined for laughs in “Those Old Scientists,” the crossover episode between Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. Well, that and an affectionate elbow in the ribs suggesting that we could all do with being a bit less obsessive.

The (animated) beta shift is making a routine survey of a long-dormant time-travel portal, while Boimler and Tendi argue about who discovered it. Boimler brags it was found by Starfleet, but Tendi says it was Orion scientists, once again trying to dispel myths that all Orions are pirates. While messing around Boimler is standing on the portal when Rutherford accidentally sets it running, throwing him back in time. When he arrives on the other side, he’s now in the live action world of Strange New Worlds, and is greeted by Spock, Una and La’an. And with that, we’re into an animated version of the title sequence, complete with nacelle-sucking alien.

On the Enterprise, Boimler can’t help but express his shock, surprise and generally fanboy out in front of his heroes. He gets lectured by La’an about not polluting the timeline and, thanks to her adventure in “Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” not getting attached. But, since this is the Boimler we know and love, he can’t help but throw spoilers out left, right and center. Not to mention his insistence on pointing out the difference between the history as he knows it, and the storylines as they’re presently unfolding on Strange New Worlds. For instance, he’s mightily disturbed by the fact that Spock – happy in a relationship with Chapel – is laughing, smiling and generally acting like he’s in love. After all, the Spock he knows – his Spock – isn’t this outwardly emotional, because that’s what the legend tells us. It’s almost as if he’s a stand-in for the sort of obsessive fan who tries to police the borders of what Star Trek is, instead of enjoying the journey.

At the same time, the Enterprise has to deal with an Orion vessel with undetermined intentions which then steals the time portal. Boimler urges Pike to be diplomatic, but winds up forcing him to trade a supply of much-needed triticale grain to get it back. Pike sees this – and the forced relocation of a planet-full of starving colonists – as preferable to having this guy on his ship any longer. When the portal is active and back in position, the Enterprise crew ready to get rid of this purple-haired irritation, Mariner leaps through, bravely declaring that she’s coming to the rescue. Except, the hardware had power enough for just one trip, and there’s not a fuel source available anywhere else in the quadrant. Leaving an eye-rolling Pike with the unwelcome possibility that they’re stuck with the Cerritos’ pair for good.

Boimler and Mariner wind up spending some time with their heroes, until they eventually realize that the Enterprise itself has a supply of fuel. Thanks to the naval tradition of using a component from the previous vessel in the construction of the next one, they can refine a chunk of NX-01 into fuel which can be used to send the pair home. (But not before the Strange New Worlds crew can reveal that they, too, are secretly as nerdy as a bunch of fans of their predecessors from Enterprise as Boimler is for this era.) They meet with the Orions again, and Pike pledges to claim that the Orions discovered the portal, giving their burgeoning science ship a small chunk of credit. And when Boimler and Mariner leap back to the future, the Enterprise crew drink an Orion cocktail that, in the closer, renders them all as animated characters.

“Those Old Scientists” is as pure a dose of fan service as Star Trek has ever produced, and I mean that as both a compliment and a criticism. Plenty of the elements, including the animated title sequence, reached straight into the lizard part of my brain and left me grinning like a loon. The screenplay, credited to Lower Decks’ executive story editor Kathryn Lyn and Bill Wolkloff, is crammed full of great gags. It helps, too, that Strange New Worlds has enough comic talent in its ranks to play an episode like this, and Carol Kane steals the show with the best gag in the episode.

But, and there is a but, the episode is a bit like cotton candy in that once the initial hit of sugar leaves your tongue, there’s little else here. We get a lot of scenes of Boimler and then Mariner telling the Enterprise crew how great they are, or are seen as such, by their successors. Most of these scenes take place sitting around desks, bars or lounges – telling rather than showing. I know that this is Strange New Worlds, and so the narrative will always belong with this crew rather than its guest stars. But the lower deckers are rendered passive observers in a narrative that could, or should, really have enabled them to demonstrate the dynamism they have in their own show. In the moment where Boimler and Mariner try to solve things on their own, they’re instantly shut down by La’an and Uhura and told to sit back on the bench. The worst served by this is Tawny Newsome, who is absent a major chunk of the episode and has little to do when Mariner does finally arrive in the past.

That cotton candy metaphor is probably the best way to sum up “Those Old Scientists,” a goofy snack between meatier meals, or episodes, either side. The fact it exists at all is a joy, even if it’s not as wonderful as it could have been, and I’d love nothing more than to see more forays into the real world by the Lower Decks crew. At the very least, with Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks in production at the same time, it’s a great time to be a Star Trek fan.

The following article contains spoilers for “Lost in Translation”

Late last month, I came off my bicycle and smashed the side of my head on the curb in a fairly dramatic accident. It gave me one hell of a concussion, a smashed-up face and a fair amount of memory loss, including everything about the incident itself. Four weeks later, I’m still struggling, and while I’m feeling a little better every day, it’s a slow process to recovery.

It’s appropriate, then, that this week’s Strange New Worlds touches on that relationship with our memories. The episode asks if memory is tied to empathy and if we can only sympathize with others if their pain calls to our own. I might not be entirely lucid all of the time right now but it certainly does feel like the smartest episode of Star Trek I’ve seen in a while.

Enterprise and the Farragut are headed to a new facility that’s behind schedule, a deuterium extraction base. Starfleet has built the enormous “gas station” inside a nebula on the edge of Gorn space to help fuel a new age of space exploration. And, you know, be a nice strategic location for the already well-telegraphed war with the Gorn that’s coming at some point soon.

Uhura, who has been more involved with this mission than others, is feeling the strain of all the work. She’s having difficulty sleeping, and has been watching videos that Hemmer recorded for her to teach her how to do basic engineering work. At the nebula, she starts hearing the Transformers noise, and experiences flashbacks to the accident that killed her family.

Rather than keep these problems to herself, Uhura wisely goes to Dr. M’Benga for help, but he prescribes rest. The crew believes she’s suffering from deuterium exposure as hallucinations are a common side-effect. But the visions get worse, and she starts seeing Zombie Hemmer – a welcome, if brief return for the much-missed Bruce Horak.

The gas station should have been active a while ago, so Pike sends over Una to crack the whip and Pelia to lend her expertise. There’s tension between the pair, Una acting like the sort of hard charging CEO who ignores Pelia’s soon-proved-right opinion. One of the station’s crew has been sabotaging things, and is seeing the same traumatic visions as Uhura.

As much as the crew is sympathetic to the pair’s plight, they still feel the cause is deuterium poisoning. The only person willing to explore another option is “and special guest star Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk.” He’s over from the Farragut for, uh, reasons, but quickly forms a bond with Uhura, trusting her instincts that something strange is going on.

ASIDE: Those reasons being that Anson Mount was on paternity leave for a chunk of Strange New Worlds’ second season. The crew gave him a greatly-reduced workload, and you’ll notice how little Pike has been present in many episodes. Much as Mount is the show’s star, and a wonderful presence, his reduced visibility here has been a boon for the series overall. More of the ensemble has been given more time in the spotlight, and while the limited episode order hampers some of this broadening out, it’s great to see a more democratic vision of the show.

There’s a touching scene, too, where La’an and Kirk talk about their divergent childhoods, and the absence of parents. George Kirk (still alive in this universe) was missing from much of Jim’s childhood, roaming the universe to save others; La’an, meanwhile, was one of those people saved. It’s a little, elegant reminder of why Starfleet exists, and why so many people in Trek’s fictional world sign up to its mission.

The rogue station crewmember breaks out of sickbay, shuts off the lights and looks to sabotage the Enterprise in the only underwhelming moment in the whole episode. It almost felt like a studio note to break up the pace of the episode with an “action” sequence, albeit one that can be shot on standing sets. The team stumbles around in the darkness of the Enterprise corridors for a bit, before Kirk saves Uhura from an explosion.

After much unraveling, it transpires that the gas station is built on the home of extra-dimensional aliens lurking within the deuterium. Their only way to communicate is to find sympathetic brains and provoke memories of grief, of loss, to try and explain their predicament. Both the station and the starships are pulling in deuterium for fuel, mincing up countless alien lifeforms for power.

Uhura and Kirk go to Pike, who wastes no time in torching the station rather than allowing any more pointless deaths. Uhura can sleep well again, and even Zombie Hemmer has been turned back into Regular Hemmer, smiling in approval. There’s just time for Jim to meet Spock for the first time before we pan out to the credits.

At the risk of sounding like Bill Hader’s impression of Alan Alda, “Lost in Translation” is full of great writing. The screenplay, credited to Onitra Johnson and David Reed, is smarter and subtler than some recent Trek episodes I could mention. While some Strange New Worlds’ episodes can sometimes leap to unintended conclusions while exploring a Big Idea, it works perfectly here. And I must say that it’s a wonderful sight to see Pike choose to torch the station because it’s very clearly the right thing to do. Much as we may miss the debating-hall sequences of golden-age Trek, isn’t it nice to just see people do the thing that aligns with their values rather than spending 35 minutes talking about it beforehand?

This is an exploration of empathy, and how some people get it, and the help that comes with it, while others are left to suffer in ignomy. It speaks to a sense that we’re missing a general sense of empathy in public life, as a number of figures strive to out-do each other in their brutality. Is memory, then, the key to mercy? Are those who were brought up in perpetual comfort less able to feel pity? If it’s the former, it’s a deliciously subtle comment about those with short memories – often emboldened by a political and media culture that values forgetfulness – are forever doomed to make the same mistakes.

ANOTHER ASIDE: A recurring theme in Strange New Worlds’ second season is the function of memory, and not in the way you might expect from a prequel. Rather than amping up the nostalgia bait, the show is instead exploring how memory informs and shapes our society. The one downside of “Among The Lotus Eaters” was that one episode simply couldn’t contain a deeper exploration of its perpetually-amnesiac society.

So, yeah, I’m a fan.

Every person needs good WiFi in their homes, but a lot of domestic WiFi setups suck for countless reasons. Maybe the hardware your ISP gave you isn’t great, or your walls aren’t friendly to wireless signals. Or perhaps the signals from your all-in-one wireless modem and router just can’t reach everywhere from its spot in a far corner of your house. It’s these maladies that mesh systems deal with, a distributed set of smaller WiFi nodes that are spread around your home, pushing internet into every corner. Mesh routers aren’t new, and we’ve reviewed plenty, but now we’re building a one-stop shop for everything you need to know. That’s because WiFi 6E is mature and affordable enough to offer transformative wireless performance for everyone.

WiFi

WiFi is governed by the International Standard IEEE 802.11, and every few years the standards evolve. Until 2018, routers were sold under their IEEE designation, leaving consumers to deal with the word soup of products labeled 802.11 b/a/g/n/ac et cetera. Mercifully, wiser heads opted to rebrand the standards with numbers: WiFi 4, WiFi 5 and WiFi 6. We’re presently between two WiFi generations, WiFi 6 and 6E, which relates to the frequencies the standard uses. WiFi 6 covers routers which operate on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, while the latter means it can also use the 6GHz band.

Each WiFi band has tradeoffs, because the slower radio frequencies have greater range but less speed. 2.4GHz signals will travel a long way in your home but aren’t quick, while 6GHz is blisteringly fast, but can be defeated by a sturdy brick wall. A lot of WiFi-enabled gear, like a lot of smart home products, only use 2.4GHz because the range is better and it’s a lot cheaper. But it means that the band is also overcrowded and slow.

Linksys’ CEO Jonathan Bettino told Engadget why mesh systems are an “advancement in WiFi technology” over buying a single point router. With one transmitter, the signal can degrade the further away from the router you go, or the local environment isn’t ideal. “You can have a small [home], but there’s thick walls [...] or things in the way that just interfere with your wireless signal,” he said.

Historically, the solution to a home’s WiFi dead zone was to buy a WiFi Range Extender but Bettino said the hardware has both a “terrible user experience” and one of the highest return rates of any consumer electronics product. Mesh WiFi, by comparison, offers “multiple nodes that can be placed anywhere in your home,” says Bettino, resulting in “ubiquitous WiFi” that feels as if you have a “router in every room.”

Having a “router in every room” is the biggest selling point for mesh WiFi given how reliant we all are on the internet. Each node is in constant contact with each other, broadcasting a single, seamless network to all of your devices. There’s no separate network for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, just a single name that you connect to.

What to look for

It’s a pretty good time to buy a mesh WiFi system, since WiFi 6E represents a fairly significant leap in the technology. Matt MacPherson, Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer for Wireless, said that WiFi 6E is a substantial “inflection point” and can take advantage of a much broader chunk of the wireless spectrum than its predecessors. “If you’re using that spectrum with a WiFi 6 [device],” he said, “you’re going to get significant gains [in speed.]”

MacPherson added that WiFi 6E will likely “carry you for a long time,” thanks to the fact that its “top throughputs now typically exceed what people can actually connect their home to.” In short, with a top theoretical per-stream speed of 1.2 Gbps, WiFi 6E is fast enough to outrun all but the fastest internet connection. (You may also see talk of WiFi 7 devices, some of which have been released already before the standard is officially launched next year. Given that it will take a generation for all of the devices in your home to be compatible with WiFi 7, it’s not worth thinking about this for several years yet.)

Range and speed

Every mesh product will boast of its theoretical broadcast range in square feet, as well as its theoretical top speed. Given there are so many factors outside of the manufacturer’s control, these numbers don’t really mean much in the real world. Your internet provider’s real speed, the construction materials and layout of your home, amongst other things, will all affect your WiFi.

It’s worth saying that raw speed isn’t everything, and that for most normal users, you probably need a lot less than you’re paying for. Netflix recommends a minimum speed of just 15 Mbps to stream a 4K video to a single device. Naturally, that’s just for one connection, so you’ll need some more capacity if you’ve got other devices all running at the same time. As cool as it is to say you’ve got 100, 200 or 500 Mbps download speed, factors like latency and reliability are way more crucial.

Backhaul

Mesh WiFi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It’s no surprise that it might take a long while for the right information to reach its intended destination.

To combat this, higher-end mesh systems offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there’s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems.

Connectivity

These days, even your washing machine has a wireless connection, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the joys of wired internet. No matter how fast WiFi is, a hard line will always be faster, and some gear, like Philips’ Hue bridge, still needs an ethernet connection. Plenty of routers can also use these hard connections as backhaul, eliminating further wireless clutter. It’s convenient for spread-out systems and power users, but it will mean running more wires through your home. The most common standard is Cat 5e, or gigabit ethernet which, unsurprisingly, has a top speed of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps).

Flexibility and scalability

Mesh enables you to add (or subtract) modules from your network to suit your needs. D-Link’s Alan Jones said users should “check how scalable the prospective product is” before you buy. This sense of scale doesn’t just apply to the number of nodes on the network, but how many simultaneous connections it can handle.

Placement

Modern mesh networking products offer one, two or three (or more) pieces of equipment that are commonly the same hardware inside and out. It normally doesn’t matter which module you make the primary one to connect to your modem, usually over ethernet. You’ll then set up the other, secondary nodes around your home, which is often just a case of adding them to the existing mesh network.

When installing your hardware, remember that every physical obstacle between nodes may hurt your performance. The ideal spot is, at the very least, at waist height on a piece of furniture without too many obstructions. Tables, sideboards, free-standing cupboards, and bookcases make for a good home. The rule of thumb is to place each node no more than two rooms away from the last one.

How we tested

My home covers around 2,200 square feet across three stories, with my office on the third floor. It’s relatively long and thin, with the living room at the front of the house, the kitchen at the back and three bedrooms on the second floor. Its age means there are a lot of solid brick walls, old school lathe and plaster, as well as aluminum foil-backed insulation boards to help with energy efficiency. There are two major WiFi dead zones in the house, the bathroom and the bedroom behind it, since there’s lots of old and new pipework in the walls and floors.

For sets that have two nodes, I placed the first in my living room, connected via ethernet to my cable modem, with the second on the first-floor landing in the (ostensible) center of the house. For three-node sets, the third went in my kitchen, which I’ve found is the optimal layout to get the bulk of my house covered in WiFi.

Each mesh is judged on ease of setup, coverage, reliability, speed and any additional features. I looked at how user-friendly each companion app is from the perspective of a novice, as well. My tests included checking for dead zones, moving from room to room to measure consistency, and streaming multiple videos at once.

The best mesh WiFi systems for 2023

The best mesh WiFi system for most people: TP-Link Deco XE75

There’s no single glitzy feature that sets TP-Link’s Deco XE75 apart from its competition. Instead it just expertly balances raw power and user-friendliness.

It’s not perfect, but many of my biggest gripes could also be described as nitpicking. I’m annoyed by the slightly shorter power cable length, compared to some of the other devices I tested. Similarly, I wish the app had a little more polish, but it’s not an unusable eyesore by any means.

But, while I dock it a few points for that stuff, I still think it’s the best for most people. Even in my spacious and wireless-hostile home, the $400 three pack was probably overkill. And if the $300 two pack can cover your home, then it’s a more wallet-friendly proposition than some of its rivals.

Read our full review of the TP-Link Deco XE75

The best mesh WiFi system for novice users: Google Nest WiFi Pro

The Nest WIFi Pro offers a simple experience for folks who want to set their network up and then forget about it. It’s not as powerful or customizable as many of its competitors, but it should be more than suitable for streaming movies and plain old web browsing. And it’s not that pricey, so while I have reservations about its long-term potential, it’s a good deal in the short term.

If you’re already inside Google’s smart home world, then the various integrations Assistant already offers, as well as support for Matter and Thread, will be a bonus. That, combined with the promise of regular updates and support from Google should mean that you can pick this up and not think about your WiFi again for several years.

Read our full review of the Google Nest WiFi Pro

The best mesh WiFi system for power users: ASUS ZenWiFi Pro ET12

The ASUS ZenWiFi Pro ET12 is a great option for folks who want something that justifies a Pro suffix. Each individual node has the power to cover your home in WiFi, and those extra gigabit and 2.5 Gbps ethernet ports will let you add fast backhaul or a speedy NAS. I’d say that both pro users and gamers will find things to love in this package. Hell, it might even be good enough to support a small office without too much stress.

And that’s before you get to the unique expandability that ASUS’ AiMesh offers, letting you add more ZenWiFi nodes or, more importantly, compatible standalone ASUS routers. That’ll help you evolve your network in a cost-effective way as you and your home’s needs change over time. Power users will be better-equipped to deal with some of its more idiosyncratic control options, and they’re more likely to take advantage of the 160MHz band support. The upfront cost is pretty expensive, that’s for sure, and it’s certainly not for general users, but it’s a very attractive package for the right person.

The following article contains spoilers for “Ad Astra per Aspera.”

Prequels, especially for well-known properties, are straightjackets which limit their own storytelling possibilities. Dramatic license is hampered by the fact the audience often knows where these characters (and storylines) end up. And any violence to the extant narrative can jar viewers who likely know what’s going on now contradicts what they’ve already seen. Until now, Strange New Worlds has navigated this issue well, making a virtue of its well-known conclusion.

“A Quality of Mercy” deftly played with the fact Pike will eventually get his near-fatal dose of radiation. The episode served to make the tragic nature of his character both a benefit and a burden, making it compelling in the process. In comparison, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” serves as an indictment of prequels, exposing the limits of what it can say, and do. Much as it presents a world that’s hopeful of change, long-term viewers know that optimism is misplaced.

That’s not to say the episode is bad, because it’s another confidently told, if lightweight, tale in a series that knows it works in that register. It helps that Star Trek wears the tropes of courtroom drama so well, since they’re both prone to a melodramatic exploration of The Big Issues(™). The subtext here is sufficiently broad that there’s a multitude of readings it’ll accept without too much stretching. And there’s at least one actually funny comedy moment where we, once again, see how much more fun Spock is when he’s played as a goofball.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Number One is preparing to stand trial for fraudulently entering Starfleet despite its ban on genetic modification. She’s thinking about her childhood, where her parents worry about taking her to a doctor and therefore exposing her status. Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) – who for some reason is now a member of Starfleet’s legal corps – offers a plea bargain with a dishonorable discharge, something Number One recoils at.

Pike, refusing to passively accept his friend’s fate, jets off to meet Neera (Yetide Badaki), an Illyrian lawyer and former friend of Number One, who has until now refused their pleas for help. His refusal to take no for an answer, and the lure of a high-profile case with which to stick it to the Federation, is enough to convince her to sign up. What follows is the usual courtroom drama, focusing on what prompted Number One to sign up to an organization that hates her.

We learn Number One was inspired to sign up to Starfleet because of the visible diversity of its crews. But that isn’t enough to win until Neera finds the contradiction between the Federation’s fine words, its goals, and its laws. It’s a subtle, pointed, critique of what Darren Franich dubbed the “California liberal paradox” in his essay on Star Trek: Insurrection. (And Star Trek is nothing if not a creature of Californian values.) He says that those people may wish “everyone to live comfortably, but would secretly prefer that most people live comfortably someplace else.”

But the court finds Number One not guilty, and she’s allowed to return to active duty on the Enterprise. At the happy ever after reunion in the transporter room, Neera says that while the case affected just one person, it’s a “start.” She adds that Number One’s visibility as an Illyrian (second) in command of a starship will help turn people’s hearts and minds toward her cause. It’s a hopeful ending, and one that suggests Number One’s story will kickstart a process of change and growth that will eventually see these prejudices and legal blocks go away.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

The issue with that ending, and how hopefully it’s portrayed, is that long-time Star Trek viewers know it doesn’t happen. Any hearts and minds that would be changed in this process would be a minority given that – from this point in Trek history – things won’t change. Chronologically, we have “Space Seed,” The Wrath of Khan, “Dr. Bashir, I Presume” and “Statistical Probabilities” as affirmations of the status quo. At least a century later, people with genetic modifications remain – in Trek’s narrative – unable to serve in its premier military, scientific and exploratory branch.

It lends the episode a tragic quality that isn’t reflected in its presentation, but one that adds a layer of depth for dedicated viewers. Perhaps what I’m describing as a limit of its storytelling is really a smart commentary on how hard it is to bend the arc of history toward justice. In fact, I think I’ve just talked myself around, this is a wonderfully pointed exploration of this stuff, bravo Dana Horgan and Valerie Weiss.

As the unromantic name implies, TP-Link’s Deco XE75 AXE5400 is one of the company’s many, many routers. A trio of plain cylinders standing 6.7-inches tall, they mirror the lack of excitement in its name, but as the saying goes, let’s not judge a book by its deeply unsexy cover. Hiding inside is a mesh of extreme quality that, despite a few rough edges, offers a great mix of power and affordability. If you’re confident in your ability to work your way through an admin panel or two, then this might be the mesh for you.

Hardware

I’ve already mentioned that the XE75 comprises a series of nondescript-looking cylinders which aren’t the prettiest mesh units. They certainly look like WiFi equipment, unlike many of the others on the market, which look like paperweights designed by Henry Moore. Unless you’re living in a minimalist’s paradise, they’ll hopefully blend into your decor with no fuss.

On the back of each node are three gigabit ethernet ports, one of which you’ll need to hook the primary mode up to your modem. You can also use the ports to run ethernet backhaul, if your house is (or will be) suitably-equipped. In 2023, when it can sometimes feel like wired ethernet is becoming a niche proposition, having three ports per node feels like luxury. And I don’t think many users will gripe over a lack of a 2.5 Gbps port which is a bit excessive, even these days.

One of the first choices you’ll need to make is how you’ll use the 6GHz band, which is reserved as backhaul by default. You can leave it like this or, if you have a plethora of WiFi 6-enabled devices already, you can run it dynamically. Like I said in the mesh WiFi buyer’s guide, using the 6GHz band for backhaul makes sense for now since so few phones, laptops and tablets can access that band directly at the moment.

TP-Link says its “AI-driven mesh” will learn which devices get faster speed from which nodes and prioritize those connections accordingly. Once each of your devices is connected to the mesh, you should hope to see your speed and reliability improve as it learns your usage.

Installation

Deco XE75 was easy to get set up, taking just 16 minutes from when I pulled the plastic film from the box to finish. Download the Deco companion app, set up a TP-Link account and you’ll then be guided through the short setup process. You just need to plug the first node in, tell the app if you have any ISP-specific needs, give your network a name and password and you’re off at the races.

Once done, the app will tell you to turn on the other nodes in the set and wait as they connect to the existing mesh. You’ll also need to assign each node a name based on their locations in your home. My phone pinged several times in quick succession after this as all the gadgets in my home joined the network. The degree of seamlessness and ease of setup was more or less perfect.

That is, except for one minor real-world annoyance that I feel compelled to flag — the length of the power cables for the UK models I’ve been testing. A lot of mesh products ask users to place nodes in visible, prominent locations, rather than hidden behind furniture, to avoid interference. That’s harder to do, however, if your power cable is just 57 inches long, a small but noticeable bit shorter than the other products I’m testing. To the point where I couldn’t put one module in my usual location at the top of a bookcase because the cable didn’t stretch that far. In this case, that module had to go on my top shelf, rather than above it. It’s a specific and possibly niche complaint but worth mentioning in case you have an unforgiving room layout.

Performance

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

After setting up the modules in the usual places in my home, I found that it took about 10 minutes for the connection to stabilize. I had to run a firmware update that caused things to drop out for a further five minutes afterward, but after that, the connection was very stable. A lot of more affordable 6E routers use the 6GHz band as backhaul, and this worked well in my home.

Close to the primary node, speeds hit an average of 270 Mbps down, and in my office two floors away, I was still getting 260 Mbps. Even in my back bedroom with its dreaded signal dead spot, SpeedTest download benchmarks fell to around 220 Mbps. Ping times were similarly consistent, to the point where I reckon a two-point mesh might have sufficed.

The Deco app very clearly shows your network topography, enabling you to quickly see which devices connect to which node. What surprised me is that the hardware in my office preferred the primary node rather than the one that was nearer. I suspect, over time, those connections would shift, but the fact I saw such good performance despite being two floors away was great.

App and controls

The Deco app lays everything out in a friendly, easy-to-parse manner that shouldn’t deter novice users from upgrading. The home screen shows you the network topography, and what devices are connected to each node by default, helping you to feel in control of what’s going on.

If there’s a downside, it’s that the level of control available to you inside each submenu isn’t that deep. View your WiFi settings, for instance, and you’ll be able to change your network name and password or share those details to someone else. But the only other option is to decide if the 6GHz network is used for dedicated backhaul or if you can share it with devices on the network. You can activate a Guest Network on the homescreen, letting you set one up with one press, although I’m less of a fan that it’s password-free by default.

You can scroll the list of what’s connected to the network to see its signal strength, as well as how much data it’s up-and-down-loading at the time. Each device can be assigned to a family member for parental controls, and you can single out a unit for priority on the network. The one downside to this is that TP-Link really struggles to identify each piece of equipment on your network compared to, say, a product from Netgear. So many units were named “iot_device” in the list, that you’ll probably need to take the time to rename them all manually.

In the More sub-menu, you can run tests to optimize your network, set up an IPv6 connection, as well as tweak IP settings. One feature I appreciated was the choice to get a push notification every time a new device joins the network, which appeals to my paranoia.

You can also access your settings through a browser-based client but, as far as I could see, the only difference is it lets you force a firmware upgrade with a local file rather than handling the system online. That’s a fairly niche use, though.

Additional features

Deco does offer smart home integrations, but it’s limited to TP-Link’s own gear and Philips Hue. The only other thing that the company offers is Homeshield, which offers a suite of security features to help keep your WiFi secure. The free Basic tier will scan your network for security threats and offers “robust” parental controls. That includes the ability to block specific websites, set daily usage limits and time-out zones to stop your kids accessing the internet in the middle of the night.

You can also activate content filtering, which will lock down swathes of the web that TP-Link deems unsuitable. That includes Adult Content, Gambling, and Download sites, amongst many others. More problematically, you can block access to sites offering sex and relationship education information, which feels like TP-Link is enabling more harm than good there.

What I will say, despite my objections, is that the suite of options available for free here is a very good mix. Plenty of companies have taken to putting even the most basic parental controls, like time limits and access control, behind their paywalls. The fact the essentials are available here, for free, means the company gets plenty of extra points here.

TP-Link also offers a paid version of Homeshield, which includes more protection against hacks, greater data about what websites users are visiting. This, it says, will guard against “teenager internet addiction (sic),” “IoT Devices Attacks (sic)” and “Cyber Virus Intrusion (sic).” Homeshield Pro costs $5.99 a month, or $55 for a year, although I’m not sure I see enough value in it to encourage anyone to sign up for the extras on offer.

Wrap-up

There’s no single glitzy, attention-grabbing feature that makes the Deco XE75 a must-buy, but what puts it ahead of the competition is its brawn. Nestled inside those cylinders is powerful, reliable hardware that generates a fast and far-reaching network which is reason enough to pick up TP-Link’s system. The app and services offered at no additional cost, squarely tick the “good enough” box.

The one thing the Deco XE75 lacks is polish, both in its app and its services. I wouldn’t suggest this to anyone who would freeze up at the very thought of having to make a decision about something like a backhaul channel. But, if you are prepared to make the effort, then this is certainly the mesh WiFi system for you. It’s fast, reliable, fairly easy to use and I reckon the (cheaper) two-pack will cover all but the biggest of homes.

Google’s pitch for its own mesh networking products has been to focus on clever trade-offs to keep the cost down, making it accessible to the masses. The Nest WiFi Pro, the company’s latest flagship, builds upon that existing (and winning) formula with the addition of WiFi 6E. Part of its appeal is the Google brand, plus the promise of regular free software updates and tight integrations with most of the world’s smart home players. In a head-to-head race, the Nest WiFi Pro will be bested by plenty of its competitors, but Google’s user-friendliness means it’s the default option for pretty much everyone.

Hardware

As I said in our main mesh WiFi buyer’s guide, I’ve been using Google’s first-generation version for years, and also reviewed the second-generation Nest WiFi, so I feel like this is my turf. The Nest WiFi Pro is Google’s first to harness WiFi 6/6E, which was irritatingly omitted from the last model on cost grounds. Because of this, they can’t integrate with your existing Google / Nest WiFi hardware, meaning that any upgrade will require you to start fresh.

In terms of looks, the Pros are ovoid bumps that stand taller than their predecessors and demand more space. ‘Round back, you’ll find the jack for the barrel power cable and two ethernet ports which Google says “support 1 Gbps wired speeds per router.” Inside, it packs a Cortex A35 dual-core 64-bit ARM CPU paired with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage like its predecessor. It is available in four colors: Snow, Linen, Fog and Lemongrass.

The Nest WiFi Pro doesn’t reserve a chunk of its spectrum for dedicated backhaul. Instead, it dynamically shunts traffic around the available space for optimal performance, which will primarily take place on the 6GHz band, since plenty of devices in our homes don’t have the components necessary to access it. Google adds that using 6GHz as backhaul frees up lots of space in the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, improving performance for all the other devices on the network.

One interesting tweak from the last model is that you can’t get the Pro with a built-in smart speaker. This is good, since I never liked the idea of having a speaker inside my WiFi apparatus. But I will concede that I did like being able to use Spotify Connect on the original Nest WiFi in my kitchen without buying another speaker.

Installation

Since it's a Google product, expect the Nest WiFi Pro to be relatively easy to install through your phone — for most of the process. If you, like me in this instance, already had a Google mesh in place, you'll need to factory reset, wipe and deactivate everything. Once done, you can just connect the first node to your modem with an ethernet cable (supplied) and let the app do the rest for you.

The Google Home app will almost instantly find the new product waiting to be installed and get you started. It took me ten minutes to get the first one running, and that included an unrelated issue with my cable modem that forced me to restart. It took another ten minutes to install the other nodes, but all I had to do was scan the QR code and follow the on-screen instructions.

The app doesn’t offer any advice about optimum node placement or identifying potential weak spots. Google’s website offers the stock line that you should put a node halfway between the primary and wherever in your home you need WiFi. That’s fine, but I suspect novice users might appreciate more guidance, especially if they’re struggling with structural issues that mean adjoining rooms aren’t getting a good signal.

Performance

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

I don’t have many WiFi 6E-compatible devices at home, and there was a fair distance between the nearest node and my office, so I didn't have high hopes that switching to the new system would deliver great gains. Yet, compared to the WiFi module in my office, which is connected via Ethernet to my modem, I saw my speed jump from around 120 Mbps to an average of 240 Mbps.

The only place where the Nest WiFi Pro’s connection was anything other than eye-wateringly fast was in my notorious back bedroom. The room, surrounded by Victorian (and modern) plumbing, was previously barren territory for my older system, but it was now joined up here. And while speeds fell to 63 Mbps, I never saw a dropout or stutter in performance. In fact, WiFi performance in that room is more than sufficient to work and take video calls.

Despite the fewer modules, connectivity was stable and I never noticed a drop when I ran between rooms. Armed with all the devices I could muster, me and my kids scuttled around the house walking to the furthest points of the house watching plenty of streamed video, and none reported an issue. My average speed tests shook down to close to 250 Mbps, and the connection was smooth enough for my purposes.

Additional features

The Nest WiFi Pro supports Matter and Thread, so you can control your smart home from the Google Home app. When I opened the app after installing the new hardware, it asked if I wanted to connect to my Philips Hue and iRobot products. You’ll still need to have your Hue Bridge connected, however, so you’re not saving a plug on your Ethernet switch. That’s unfortunate compared to, say, some Eero models which have built-in Zigbee units that allow you to ditch the bridge entirely. But if you’re all-in on Google’s Assistant then you’ll benefit from having everything hooked up inside one app.

A key selling point of Google’s network products is the promise to keep them up to date with software and security updates. The company has rolled out fairly regular updates over the last seven years and there’s no indication yet that it’s going to stop. I’ve been fairly happy with the work done for my first-generation Google WiFi pucks. If I do have a concern, it’s that Google sometimes axes products not long after launch, so you do run the risk of investing in the company only for its impatience to get the better of it.

App and controls

I preferred when you could control your Google WiFi through the standalone app, but these days it’s all rolled into the company’s Home app. That’s great as a one-stop shop for any compatible smart home gadgets you might have, but it’s less comprehensive. When managing your network, you can look at per-device traffic, set priority access (or pause connection to) any device on the network. You’ll also be able to run speed and mesh connection tests to ensure that your network performance is optimal.

Some of these features aren’t standard on other routers, and some you need to pay extra to access. Others may offer you a good deal more, too. If you’re looking for more fine-grain control, you probably won’t find it on the Nest. As much as Google calls this a “Pro” router, it’s more to gesture toward being more premium, rather than for actual professionals. There’s no access to some of the harder-core settings or browser-based controls page for power users. Instead, this is a locked-down, curated experience for people who want their WiFi to work without much .

For parental controls, you can set up groups within the Family WiFi menu to pause multiple devices at once. You can also schedule access times, a feature that several other mesh products expect you to pay to use. And while there’s no specific way to filter individual websites, you can designate some hardware to be routed via Google’s SafeSearch to block a broad swathe of content online. What this system lacks is any fine-grain control for concerned parents or the ability to monitor a specific device’s browsing history. But I’ve always been of the opinion that overzealous parenting just creates kids who learn at a young age to hide what they’ve been up to.

Wrap-up

What Google’s WiFi products have always offered is a fairly acceptable blend of power, price and performance. You won’t be getting into the nitty-gritty parts of running a network, but you’re also not paying a huge amount of cash. It should appeal to people who really don’t want to worry about doing much more than running the odd speed test and quickly setting up a guest network without any stress. Something like the TP-Link XE75 might run faster and offer more features, but for this price, Google’s remained true to its ethos of making the right compromises.

Tudum, Netflix’s in-house mix of Comic Con and shareholder presentation, took place this weekend. The company used the moment to tease plenty of forthcoming projects, including its live-action remakes of One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender. It also showed off its adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II novel All The Light We Cannot See.

The streamer also revealed the first teaser for the adaptation of Liu Cixin’s award-winning sci-fi novel The Three Body Problem. That has the distinction of being the first (finished) project to come from Game of Thrones co-creators / co-ruiners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss since all of that.

But what’s likely to be the biggest new release was the game show adaptation of blockbuster dystopia Squid Game, which will land in November. The series puts 456 contestants through a set of grueling challenges until one winner walks away with $4.56 million in prize money. Bear in mind that participants have already described their experiences on the show as “absolutely inhumane,” and plenty of contestants required medical attention during the challenges. Satire, eh?

– Dan Cooper

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Prepare your ovenable protein of choice, hang out the ornaments and make haste to invite your friends. We’re rapidly approaching this year’s Prime Day, and so it’s about time you got yourself ready to indulge in Amazon’s two-day sales event. We’ve published our latest guide to help you get set, with information on how best to prepare your shopping and, crucially, where to compare historic price trends to make sure the deal you’re offered is actually a deal.

It’s worth noting that plenty of other retailers also plan to take advantage of loosened wallets in the same period. Walmart, Target and Best Buy, alongside plenty of others, will be offering deals on the same or similar items, so it’s doubly worth shopping around. If all of that feels like too much effort, then rest assured that Engadget will also be hunting and picking the best deals, which can be found in our dedicated deals newsletter.

– Dan Cooper

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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The following article contains spoilers for “The Broken Circle.”

Strange New Worlds’ first season may have stumbled out of the gate, but it outdid itself with every subsequentepisode. On the strength of the back half of its episodes alone, you could easily call it the best live-action Trek of the streaming era. This achievement was staggering, especially since it was saddled with the nightmare brief of serving as a spin-off to Discovery, a prequel to Star Trek and a paean to fans less than enamored with its serialized stablemates. It quickly found a tone that would serve those many masters, offering episodic storytelling with soap opera characterization that quickly teased out Star Trek’s oft-denied goofy side. It quickly found the confidence to be silly, and dramatic, and even made time to show the crew hanging out with each other, and above all else, it was accessible to mainstream audiences.

That confidence is proudly on show here in “The Broken Circle,” the season two opener credited to co-showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman. Watching this, you get the sense that every person in the production team is pulling in the same direction, with fantastic results. It helps that Myers and Goldsman again write their crew making smart choices pretty much all of the time, sparing us any sludgy plot blocking. In fact, the quickness of its narrative and the sheer brute-force of its charisma helps cover a multitude of sins, turning what is otherwise a fairly light romp into something that will, hopefully, set the tone for the rest of the season.

We open with the Enterprise in spacedock, undergoing a (weirdly testy) inspection while Pike tries to find someone who can help save Number One from her upcoming court martial. He leaves an unusually-flustered Spock in charge of the Enterprise, who isn’t feeling up to the task. That’s because he can’t get his emotions back under control after unleashing his inner rage monster back in “All Those Who Wander,” and seeks help from Dr. M’Benga. He hands him a Lute and tells him to work on his emotions like a human, and when Chapel walks in, the good Doctor can’t help but notice the tension. On the bridge, meanwhile, Uhura receives a coded message from La’an, who has uncovered a plot against the Federation on the edge of Klingon space.

Sadly, April turns down Spock’s plea to investigate, and so enlists the bridge crew to steal the Enterprise. And yes, while this is comedically punctured soon after, I’ll admit to sighing myself inside out as I expected to sit through the second Search for Spock homage in three months. Mercifully, the heist is disrupted by Pelia, the immortal head of the inspection team – Carol Kane playing a stock Carol Kane-type character. Pelia, as a friend of Spock’s mom Amanda, decides to aid in the deception to get the crew underway. They find La’an on a dilithium rich planet which was contested during the Klingon war, and is now under the control of a gang of nefarious types. They’re annoyed that their profit margins have been eroded in peacetime, and would much prefer to restart the Federation - Klingon war to boost profits.

It’s Dr. M’Benga and Chapel who get the meat of the action here, as they are kidnapped and taken to a fake Federation starship being built underground. They correctly surmise that the ship will be used to – another sigh – stage a false flag attack on the Klingons to restart the war. In order to warn the Enterprise, they go heavy on the steroids and punch-fight their way to the ship’s transponder to send them a message. Unfortunately, the ship breaks ground to attack an arriving cruiser, forcing the Enterprise to give chase. But Spock’s reticent to open fire, since the (not so) secret object of his (not so) secret affections is still on board.

Thankfully, M’Benga and Chapel blast their way out into space without any EVA gear and get beamed aboard by the pursuing Enterprise (I know, I know!). Spock is then left to smooth things over with the Klingons, downing a mug or two of blood wine to demonstrate his fortitude to his new friends. April’s happy to give him a slap on the wrist for his heroics, mostly because his focus is on a looming war with the Gorn. And with that, we’re back at the races.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

What sets “The Broken Circle” apart from many episodes like it from Star Trek’s history is the confidence in its execution and the faith it has in its audience. There are plenty of times that information is conveyed visually rather than with radio-style narration. The silent nod between La’an and M’Benga, when we’re trusted to know what a Starfleet ship looks like by sight alone, and the results of Chapel and M’Benga’s steroid hit. I know this is basic stuff, but it’s right to praise a show that’s able to avoid falling into its own worst habits, and Chris Fisher’s snappy direction deserves plenty of praise.

I could be wrong, but it feels as if the visuals have improved, too, both in scope and execution. The crew seems to have gotten to grips with how best to use its virtual production stage, putting it to effective use in several scenes. We’re still a long way from being able to light big walls of TV screens like the real outdoors, but the effect wasn’t jarring. It was also another episode where savvy use of pre-existing sets was disguised well-enough – at least until you wonder why a criminal crew building a fake starship would bother to equip it with a sickbay, at least.

The one downside to all of this, really, is my usual one, which is that I still can’t shake the feeling some of this stuff is better suited to the other Star franchise. Clandestine meetings with arms dealers where you prove your mettle with how well you hold your drink or a (fake) grenade. A face-punching interrogation scene seconds after being reminded the Federation prohibits torture. A corridor-based punch-fight in which the two people least-qualified to be ass-kickers turn into ass-kicking ninjas for five minutes at a time. Yes, Star Trek of old could be violent, but I don’t think it was ever this cynical or nihilistic, even in the Deep Space Nine days.

For now, let’s welcome Strange New Worlds back for another run, where it’s only got to maintain its reputation as the best live-action Trek. No pressure, then.