Star Trek: Strange New Worlds nears the end of its second season with its biggest and most ambitious creative swing yet by making the season's penultimate episode a full-blown musical. Titled "Subspace Rhapsody," the episode stands as one of the longest in the entire series to date, giving it room to breathe and including eight original songs celebrating a variety of musical styles. While the idea of a Star Trek musical episode may not seem like everyone's cup of tea, "Subspace Rhapsody" fits within the wider story and character arcs, complementing Season 2's noticeably lighter tone.
The Enterprise investigates an anomaly while testing out a new subspace communications system devised by Spock and Nyota Uhura to significantly bolster communication speeds across the armada. When Uhura sings through the subspace system in an effort to change up the harmonics used by the new technology, it triggers the anomaly's probability field, engulfing the Enterprise. As the crew regains their bearings, they spontaneously break out into song and dance to channel even their most latent emotions as they scramble to stop the probability field from spreading and affecting others throughout the galaxy.
With nearly a dozen different Star Trek shows, often filled with ensemble casts from theater backgrounds, it's a wonder that no series has attempted to produce a musical episode before. Given Strange New Worlds' propensity for experimenting with different genres, a musical isn't too far-fetched as a premise for a standalone episode, and it works within the context of the story. There are still genuine stakes to the story. The fate of Starfleet hangs in the balance by the climax, but the real focus is on the characters.
As for the songs themselves, they are written by Letter to Cleo bandmates Kay Hanley and Tom Polce and cover everything from the traditional stage numbers made famous by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the '50s and '60s to rap musicals like Hamilton. The cast is competent in their singing and dancing abilities, with the episode wisely focusing on its strongest musical performers, namely Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong. Everyone gets a chance to shine, and most of the songs are catchy enough, with the best songs bookending the episode.
For all the spontaneous singing and dancing, this episode presents important developments for much of the main cast, from Spock and Christine Chapel's burgeoning romance to La'an Noonien-Singh's complicated feelings for Jim Kirk. It'll be interesting to see how this all, along with Kirk's continued presence on the Enterprise, informs the impending Season 2 finale, but there are major moments for the main ensemble, to be sure. "Subspace Rhapsody" may be an outlier in terms of its presentation and genre but is certainly not a throwaway episode in the larger Strange New Worlds saga.
"Subspace Rhapsody" stands among the most memorable Star Trek episodes from a season full of them. Anyone skeptical about the concept of Star Trek delving into the musical genre is unlikely to be completely won over, but those open to the premise will find lots to enjoy as the season finale looms. At this point in its storied legacy, Star Trek doesn't have a lot of franchise firsts left, but Strange New Worlds has more than delivered and helped redefine what Star Trek can be.
Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.