A lot of the genius of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 9 is in offering the audience familiar scenarios presented in innovative contexts.
My favorite, hands-down, is the planning montage, something I can’t recall ever seeing on a Trek show but with which I am intimately familiar with as a die-hard fan of the A-Team series.
It was, in a word, perfect. They just needed Dal chomping on a cigar, loving how a plan comes together. Or maybe it would translate to Janeway watching them work, sipping on her cup of coffee.
As we prepare to bid adieu to the Protostar for an indeterminate length of time (I’m guessing it returns before Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 premieres, but that’s based on nothing but a calendar), the action ramps up significantly.
The Diviner is a monster — as is stated multiple times — but he’s a very clever one.
When Drednok 2.0 fails to successfully activate the Protostar and wrest control of the ship away from the crew, the backup plan is already in the programming, a holographic recording of the Diviner making his ultimatum offer.
And somehow, he’s savvy enough to understand that threatening the Unwanted of Tars Lamora will be enough to bring them back.
Hand Dal his graduation diploma already because, holy heck, has he ever matured from the impulsive rapscallion who thought he could fly a freight vehicle into orbit on Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 1.
His indecision about returning isn’t — as it would’ve been at the start of the series — about self-preservation but a heartfelt dilemma when faced with a no-win situation. And he even references the Kobayashi Maru! Gold star, with honors!
You’re the one who wanted to be in charge. Now, when faced with a tough choice, you just run away? Are you scared? Or just selfish?
Gwyn
Gwyn’s input and willingness to play sacrificial lamb to the ruse also demonstrates the change in her character.
The last thing she, or any of them, wants to do is return to Tars Lamora and face The Diviner again.
Rok-Tahk: I never wanted to see this place again. Too many bad memories.
Jankom Pog: Then let’s make some better ones, kid.
But this is a crew that has truly found a family in each other and hope for their future out among the stars.
The success of meeting the challenge of the time anomaly on Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 8 under their belt boosts their confidence and opens their minds to the possibility of besting their fearsome foe.
We were separated across fractured time, yet we still found a way to work together.
Zero
Furthermore, their time together has revealed their individual strengths and abilities, which can be optimized for maximum awesomeness in their hail-mary plan to outwit the Diviner.
Murf, my indestructible friend, this may just work.
Zero
It goes without saying that I’ll be buying and hoarding ALL the Murf merchandise when it hits the Paramount+/Nickelodean online store. Yeah, I’ve got kids. They can get their own.
I despair that we’ll ever know what Murf is, species-wise, or where he came from, but he’s both the comedic heart and secret weapon of this ragtag team of young explorers.
Their plan plays out much like an A-Team mission or an Ocean’s heist, with multiple elements of distraction and double-dealing.
All the pieces of their plan were previously introduced during their adventures thus far.
The vehicle replicator (Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 4) creates the decoy Zero.
The transporter (Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 7) sneaks the real Zero and their equipment onto Tars Lamora.
Murf’s #INDESTRUCTIBLE nature (Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 6) is key to stealing the protostar core of the ship’s drive.
It’s all quite impressive and entertaining as hell, to boot.
But, like any good two-parter, it leaves a lot on the table to be dealt with in the concluding half.
With Gwyn aboard the protostar-less Protostar ship, will she be able to stall the Diviner’s return or sabotage Drednok’s operation of the ship?
Despite the Diviner’s seemingly sentimental attachment to her — a source of great ire to Drednok –, we should keep in mind that he did clone a new progeny not that long ago.
Did Drednok pack the new progeny when they boarded?
Will Gwyn get to meet her new sibling?
This is more than a ship. This is our salvation.
The Diviner
There’s also the whole “truth” thing that keeps teasing us… I mean, Gwyn, always hinted at but so far not revealed.
Does it have to do with the Vau N’akat’s near-extinction? Is it related to Dal’s parentage? It’s always twigged me that the Diviner talks about how he and Gwyn are the last two members of their species while Dal is completely by himself.
Of course, I guess there’s an assumption that his species lives elsewhere, but if he can’t even remember their faces, how does he know? (And please stop trolling me with Avatar and Pandora memes. He’s not Na’vi.)
The most pressing matter the second half will have to address is the evacuation and liberation of the miners on Tars Lamora.
The crew has the Rev-12 and the protostar, but without the Federation ship, they are without Janeway’s guidance and the ship’s resources.
Janeway! That Drednok-reprogrammed version! Talk about a jaw-dropping makeover.
(Just between you and me, I suspect that Gwyn was prepared for that, and she programmed contingency code into the system. My theory is that Drednok’s version is Good Hologram Janeway playing the double-agent.)
It will be exciting to see how the midseason finale plays out in terms of what it reveals, where it leaves the crew, and how the denizens of Tars Lamora fare.
Will the Federation make an appearance? Will the other species and planets we’ve encountered so far recur?
I just want to say, I know you never thought you were Starfleet material, but today you’re risking everything on a seemingly impossible mission to save others. To bring hope to a hopeless cause. Nothing’s more Starfleet than that.
Janeway
I’m pretty keen on that little Caitian joining the crew, but one non-verbal crew member might be enough for the moment.
Howsoever this first half-season concludes, it’s no exaggeration to state Star Trek: Prodigy has been a refreshing and energizing addition to Paramount+’s Trek-verse.
What are you hoping to see in the finale? More specifically, what do you think it will look like when Murf … um … “passes” the protostar? I’m pretty sure #MurfToot would be understating it. Hit our comments with your best predictions!
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.