‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Just Ended the “Masquerade”
Do you think you know what’s happening on Star Trek: Prodigy? You don’t. “Masquerade” is this season’s biggest game-changer yet.
Prodigy is firing on all cylinders right now. With Vice Admiral Janeway hot on their tails, the crew of the Protostar is in real danger. And things don’t get any less dangerous in the Romulan Neutral Zone. There’s more than just Romulans and Starfleet to worry about – the Neutral Zone is a lawless land full of people who don’t exactly follow the rules.
“Masquerade” is a big episode. Not only is it heavy on Star Trek lore, but it’s also a story that really shifts what we thought we knew and adds a number of new, major questions. Plus, Murf has arms and legs now, and there might not be anything more dangerous than that.
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To Boldly Recap
We start “Masquerade” with the Protostar almost safe, and that’s all thanks to Captain Okona. Okona helps rebuild the ship, manages a haywire Murf, and generally seems to have a calming effect on almost the entire crew.
The lone holdout is Dal who is extremely jealous of Okona’s calm confidence. And the jealousy doesn’t decrease when Okona knows the perfect place for the Protostar to dock for repairs and to make their next move: Noble Isle. Jankom and Zero remain aboard to fix the ship while Okona takes the rest of the crew down the space elevator (the only way on or off-world) to Noble Isle.
The danger presents itself before they even make it down. An ad from a geneticist named Doctor Jago appears on screen making all sorts of gene-splicing promises. And it turns out Okona needs to see Jago because last episode he lost her cargo. Oopsie.
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Dal Makes Some Bad Choices
Jago is not happy that her cargo is missing, but she’s very excited about Dal. In fact, she insists she knows where Dal comes from. Or, better said, she knows who Dal comes from.
One quick genetic scan and Jago confirms it: Dal is not one species, but many. Specifically, Dal is the next phase of Arik Soong‘s augment race. He’s a combination of basically every Federation member you can name: human, Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite just to name a few.
Dal is understandably upset to discover he has no parents because he was essentially made in a petri dish. But Jago offers Dal something she thinks is good news: she can splice his genetic code and give him all the best abilities from every race that makes up his DNA.
And while Dal pretends in front of his crew that he isn’t interested, he asks for more info from Jago the moment Gwyn, Rok, and Okona are out of earshot. Uh oh.
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The Tal Shiar and The Federation
While the gang is down on Noble Isle, Vice Admiral Janeway has her own problems. She wants to head into the Neutral Zone but Admiral Jellico forbids it. And worse still, the Romulan Tal Shiar are hot on the Protostar’s trail. And if they try to steal the Protostar Janeway is ordered to blow the ship up!
But the big problem is back on Noble Isle where the Romulans knock out Zero and Jankom before heading down to the planet. The good news is that Dal seems ready to take on every Romulan who ever lived. The bad news is that Dal has a dermal implant from Jago he uses to activate ALL his latent genetics at once.
And while that means Dal is stronger, faster, and able to read minds, he’s also losing his mind and his body is maybe falling apart? It’s not great! And worse still is that Okona, who was supposed to be their protector, ditches the crew at the first sign of trouble.
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Fighting Romulans and The Diviner
A fight ensues. The Protostar crew gets on the space elevator. The Romulans get on another space elevator, And they basically fight across the elevators. Dal can’t keep it up, but thankfully the new and improved Murf helps.
The problem is that Admiral Janeway and her ensign Asencia have been watching this whole time. And they decide to fire off some torpedoes at the Protostar. Fortunately, the crew retakes their ship and Janeway realizes what’s happened in time to cancel the torpedoes… somehow. More on that later.
Dal gets his implant removed and returns to normal. His crew is understanding of his bad decision in the heat of the moment. But the much bigger story is back on the Dauntless with Asencia. It turns out she has a dermal implant, too! And she’s been using it to conceal her true identity.
Asencia meets with the Diviner, revealing two facts. One: the table in the Diviner’s quarters is actually Drednok. Two: Asencia is Vau N’Akat, the same race as the Diviner. And like the Diviner, she is also from the future. Whether she is also one of his progeny like Gwyn remains unknown. But the fact that there’s another homicidal time traveler in the mix is a major reveal.
And just in time for the episode to end!
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To Boldly Review
“Masquerade” is a mixed bag of Star Trek: Prodigy in the truest sense. The stuff that works, works amazingly well. But the stuff that does not work is immensely frustrating.
Focusing on the good first, Dal being an augment is exciting news. Trek fans usually assume that the Soong family just moved on to building androids. But for the first time, we find out that Earth-type Augments are still out there. And that begs a massive question: just who is making those Augments? The only flesh and blood Soong we know about in this part of the timeline is Altan Inigo Soong. And he’s all about synthetic life.
Here’s an interesting thing to consider: Star Trek: Picard‘s third season features the return of Data’s evil twin Lore. What if Lore is responsible for continuing the Augment project? Lore helps the Borg at one point and he’s a fan of Crystalline Entities, so why not augments?
It’s also exciting that Asencia (or whoever she is) is also from the future and a Vau N’Akat. And we haven’t seen Drednok in ages so it’s exciting to have our favorite evil robot back in the mix. The Diviner’s mission has faded in the background long enough and we’re looking forward to seeing it going in a new direction.
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That’s Not How DNA Works
For every good thing about “Masquerade” there is something that does not work, especially in the context of Star Trek: Prodigy itself. The biggest example is how quickly Dal’s genes change and then change back. Sure, this is the far-flung future, but the fact that Dal completely changes his body and then gets changed back in the span of 24 minutes feels way too fast.
It’s also a little hard to swallow that the Romulan’s Tal Shiar spies lose so easily. Sleeping Borg is one thing, but these Romulans are wide awake and they have tons of weapons. It seems a little silly for them to lose so easily.
And speaking of losers, Okona really goes out like a punk. Yes, he’s never been any Star Trek fan’s favorite character, but this seems like a chance to reform him. And for a brief moment, Okona seems pretty darn cool — cool enough to make Dal jealous. But then he just slinks away? It feels like that moment comes a little out of nowhere.
Asencia’s reveal also comes out of nowhere. It’s cool that she’s got a secret agenda. And it’s awesome having Drednok back. But it feels like this should have happened in a different episode. Hopefully, Asecncia gets her own full episode in the near future.
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References: Gotta Catch ‘Em All
There are plenty of references to Trek’s past: the Tal Shiar and the Augments are the biggest ones. But there are two others that are not only interesting but also potentially important for the future of Star Trek: Prodigy.
The first pertains to one of the races that Dal’s genes come from, Proto-Organians. The Organians first appeared way back in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Errand of Mercy”. They are extremely powerful and non-corporeal. They have the ability to control pretty much anyone and anything. And they seem to enjoy testing humanoid life. In fact, it’s possible that they may even be behind Dal’s creation.
But the Organians are not the only familiar faces we see for the first time in a while. Janeway’s superior officer is Admiral Edward Jellico – the man who briefly took over as captain of the Enterprise-D. Yes, back when Picard got kidnapped by Cardassians, Jellico ruled the Enterprise with an iron fist. And he’s tough on Star Trek: Prodigy, too. He’s done destroying a ship full of kids! That’s terrible!
Basically, these returns leave us with big questions about the state of the Federation. With the Organians potentially out there, is the Federation safe? Is anyone?
“Masquerade” is a little sloppy, but you can’t argue with how exciting it is for the franchise.
3.5/5 stars
