Star Trek: Prodigy, “Supernova Part 2” and the Challenge of Endings
Star Trek: Prodigy‘s first season is at an end. And what an ending it is. Starfleet burns and the Protostar is responsible. Now what?
“Supernova Part 1” ends on one of the biggest cliffhangers in the history of Star Trek. Big “Mr. Worf: Fire” energy. If the season ends with Starfleet literally blowing itself up, that would be hard to beat.
However, with 23 minutes left, the story ain’t over yet. And the biggest surprise is how much happens in those 23 minutes. Last week I wondered if the Protostar might have to travel to Gwyn’s homeworld to save Starfleet. Spoiler Alert: that is not what happens.
What we get with “Supernova Part 2” is very surprising indeed. This is less a conclusion to the season and more a prequel for the next season. But does it work? Only one way to find out!
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To Boldly Recap
The ever-growing fleet of Federation ships continues their involuntary barrage on one another. In the middle of it all? The Protostar. There’s only one thing left to do according to Dal: blow up the ship. But Jankom Pog says that the protostar drive exploding would basically take out a huge chunk of the quadrant with it. Rok offers a solution: if the ship is in proto-warp as it self-destructs, the resulting explosion will spread across time and space limiting the overall destruction to a minimum.
But who will stay on board to push the proverbial button? Dal volunteers, but Hologram Janeway steps in. After all, the crew can just make a copy of her program with them. Of course, what they don’t realize is that Janeway’s program is too big for any portable travel. Clueless of their mentor’s imminent demise, the Protostar crew gets to work. Jankom sets up the self-destruct and Rok makes an escape shuttlecraft on the fly.
Hologram Janeway gives Dal an isolinear chip he assumes is her program. She says goodbye, the crew flies out of the Protostar in their janky escape pod, and Janeway punches it one last time. The sky erupts in magnificent color as the Starfleet vessels cease their attack. Meanwhile, on their shuttlecraft, the Protostar crew finds out their mentor is gone thanks to a pre-recorded message she left behind for them.
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One Month Later
Back at Starfleet HQ, leadership assesses the long-term consequences of the Protostar’s destruction. It turns out the explosion created a rift in space and time – a wormhole. And through that wormhole comes a message from 52 years in the future. A message from Chakotay. It turns out that Hologram Janeway was able to make the wormhole she created functionally the same as the one that Chakotay took to arrive in the future in the first place.
Just then, the Protostar’s escape pod finally arrives on Earth. Our crew is safe, but maybe not for long. There’s a hearing and the people repping Starfleet think the Protostar crew are criminals. Admiral Janeway stands up for them and says they are the living embodiment of Starfleet, especially Dal, that they saved the Federation and have more than earned a place at Starfleet Academy.
All charges are dropped. And everyone in the crew is invited to be taken under Janeway’s wing not as Starfleet cadets but as warrant officers in training. But only 5 of them are joining. Gwyn is heading back to her homeworld to sort things out. If she can tell her world of the rest of the universe maybe she can change things for the better. Zero dubs Gwyn “The Unifier”.
Rok sets on a track to be a Xenobiologist. Zero gets a new shell. Gwyn figures out where her homeworld is and also realizes that, because of time travel, her father is technically still alive – and young! Dal and Gwyn kiss and promise to find each other again. And while there is now a new Protostar class of ships, Janeway has a different plan in mind for her crew.
We will have to wait to find out about next season.
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To Boldly Review
Alright, let’s get the bad out of the way because (to me, at least) the bad is glaringly obvious. Star Trek: Prodigy spends a very long time setting up every part of “Supernova”. We learn how the ships work, we learn about the living construct, about Dal being an augment, and on and on. And, of course, we learn about Asencia, whose plan has now come to fruition.
And something we learn in part one of “Supernova” is that Asecnia cannot stop the living construct even if she wants to. She says it. And if the flaws of “Supernova Part 2” can be boiled down to one fact, it is this – Star Trek: Prodigy is not following its own internal logic.
If the living construct sent out its self-perpetuating virus, isn’t that game over? Why does destroying the Protostar make a difference? It just doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry. I hate to say it, but this is a glaring problem that impacts the story on a fundamental level.
I wanted “Supernova Part 2” to be like “The Best of Both Worlds Part 2” – huge, epic, emotionally devastating, and narratively satisfying. But what it feels like instead is “Year of Hell” – a good Star Trek: Voyager two-parter which was supposed to be a great entire season. And “Year of Hell” is good, but you can feel how rushed the second part is. “Supernova Part 2” is just the same.
That being said…
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The Tears Do Be Flowing Though
The show’s name is “Star Trek: Prodigy” not “Star Trek: Protostar”. And while it may seem obvious to some, I did not see the Protostar’s destruction coming. More importantly, I did not see Hologram Janeway’s death coming either. It seems so obvious now. The Protostar, the thing that was supposed to bring its crew home was also their greatest hindrance. And it’s not like Kate Mulgrew was going to play two Janeways every episode forever.
Kathryn Janeway, at her best, is a role model. Every member of USS Voyager spends seven seasons, trying to find a home while asking themselves one question: what would Janeway do? Janeway inspires Harry Kim to break the rules and Tom Paris to follow them. She brings Maquis fighters back into Starfleet. And she teaches a Borg how to be human.
Hologram Janeway does the same for Dal, Gwyn, Zero, Rok, Jankom Pog, and Murf. She shepherds them out of literal slavery. She teaches them how to strive for Starfleet ideals. But more than anything, Hologram Janeway shows a ragtag bunch of kids how to be a Starfleet crew and a family at the same time.
And then she sacrifices herself. Because of course she does. If there’s one thing any Star Trek: Voyager or Star Trek: Prodigy fan can tell you, it’s that every version of Janeway will die a million times over to see her crew home and safe.
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Welcome Aboard
The entire second half of “Supernova Part 2” is absolutely aces. Admiral Janeway going to bat for the crew feels so good. The squad getting to be warrant officers under Janeway’s command absolutely rips. Honestly, even the moment when Janeway points out that Dal, while an augment, is clearly not the genetically beefy Khan Noonien-Singh Starfleet imagines him to be is just top-tier and hilarious. Absolutely roasted.
Everybody is on a new journey. Rok explores xenobiology, Zero gets a fancy housing unit, and Jankom Pog learns not to hit things. But the biggest move is for Gwyn who chooses to leave. She knows where home is now and she can change her people’s fates. When Zero dubs Gwyn “The Unifier” I legit cried. What a moment. And it’s cool, too, that because of time travel her dad is still out there.
Speaking of out there, we also know where the show is heading next – to find Chakotay in the future. And, candidly, it is possible that the Protostar and Hologram Janeway are still somehow out there, too.
Yes, there’s some narrative cheating and some rule fudging going on here, but Star Trek: Prodigy still goes out on a high note here. ‘Star Trek’ is a franchise, above all, about hope. And hope is in abundance with the close of “Supernova Part 2”. I cannot wait to see where we go from here.
4/5 stars
