RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 308 - 'Four-and-a-Half Vulcans'

In the of , the Enterprise escorts cargo, which turns out to be a sentient being modified as a weapon, to help a war-ravaged planet, but controversial truths about it cause Captain Pike and the crew to come under the scrutiny of investigative journalist Humberto "Beto" Ortegas filming the mission for his documentary.

Now, in Episode 8, "," after the Enterprise completes a mission requiring several of the crew to become Vulcan, new problems arise when it is time for them to change back into humans.

As the U.S.S. Enterprise heads to Purmantee III for shore leave,* Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley and Lt. La’An Noonien-Singh chat about Number One's decision to work during her vacation, and La'An responds awkwardly to Lt. Spock when the Vulcan tries to sit with them. Meanwhile, Captain Marie Batel and Captain Christopher Pike spar in the Gymnasium, where Batel shares her desire to convince Vice Admiral Pasalk to allow her to return to court.

The Vulcan High Command contacts the Enterprise about the pre-warp population of Tezaar, as despite previous interactions with the Vulcans, the Federation can't assist the planet directly without violating . Early Vulcans provided the Tezaarians with a nuclear-based method of powering their entire world, and the system requires maintenance to prevent a meltdown. Given the Tezaarians' advanced scanning technology, the Starfleet away team can't just appear Vulcan, they have to become Vulcan.

In Sickbay, Nurse Christine Chapel employs to transform Pike, Noonien-Singh, Ensign Nyota Uhura, and herself. Commander Pelia is disappointed that the serum has no effect on her Lanthanite physiology, but the others are overcome with severe pain and emerge with Vulcan features and demeanors. Pike is quick to point out that, given Spock's half-human side, there are now four-and-one-half Vulcans in the room.

Outfitted in Vulcan attire and gear — including a lirpa** — the away team beams down and fixes the energy system in record time, but the Kherkovian cure fails to return them to their human forms once they're back aboard the Enterprise. Since the serum was derived from Spock's perceived experiences, it has granted the landing party with an advanced logical state. Nevertheless, Dr. Joseph M'Benga suggests they remain on the ship during shore leave.

In the Port Galley, Humberto "Beto" Ortegas is taken aback by Uhura's Vulcan appearance, though she questions why he never made preparations for their first date.

In the Transporter Room, Lt. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott welcomes Lt. Commander James T. Kirk aboard. Since Lt. George "Sam" Kirk had already beamed down to Purmantee III, James enlists Scotty to grab a drink.

Pike prepares for Batel's dinner with Pasalk by meticulously cleaning his quarters, insisting that his Vulcan senses detect a strong human smell in the room.***

In Sickbay, Chapel runs five additional experiments — plus a side project on gravitational metrics — while working on the Kherkovian solution, explaining that the Vulcan mind does not require rest.

Elsewhere on the Enterprise, La'An joins Kirk and Scotty for their drink, and she describes the way Vulcan logic has changed her perceptions. La'An believes the Federation must take control of uncontested space before their enemies do, requesting to see the information about the Enterprise's power supply system on Scotty's PADD. Kirk expresses concern over La'An's new aggressive disposition, especially once she makes off with the PADD.

Pike assembles the senior staff in the Ready Room, where the four humans-turned-Vulcans reveal that the Kherkovian serum has been repaired. However, they have chosen to remain Vulcans — permanently. Pike intends to enact numerous changes to the ship, including 14 daily shifts with most lasting 42 minutes.

These developments prompt a secret meeting among Pike's subordinates in Pelia's quarters, which have been technologically-modified to avoid detection. The officers decide they need to ask the four crew members if they wish to remain — as Pelia described them — "Vulcan jerks" without the question being put through a Vulcan filter. Connecting to their human could provide such an opportunity.

As Pike and La'An realize they have both learned about a connection between Vulcan history and the Romulans that they are not permitted to discuss,**** Lt. Erica Ortegas finds Beto in a perplexing, Vulcan-like state of mind in the Port Galley. In Sickbay, Chapel frees up her time by breaking up with Dr. Roger Korby and terminating all other personal relationships.

To Scotty's surprise, La'An has created a stealth code to mask her lifesigns. The Chief of Security locates Kirk and Scotty in a corridor, announcing that the ship needs deadlier weapons. Ortegas catches up with Uhura and becomes furious upon discovering that the communications officer used a consensual mind meld to temper Beto's impulses.

Back in Pelia's quarters, Number One informs Spock that she knows a katra expert who lives nearby — but he is her ex. They meet with Una’s former flame, Doug, whose parents were enamored with human names. In order to conceal her interest in her ex, Number One pretends to be married to Spock, creating names — Kalsive and Sarah "Doug" — for their imaginary children. Una and Doug struggle against their mutual attraction, so Spock decides to converse with the Vulcan alone.

In Pike's quarters, the captain impresses Pasalk with his leek sorbet, but he shocks Batel when he advises the admiral that she may never fully recover from her Gorn-related injuries. Batel ardently defends her ability to return to work, criticizing Pasalk's decision-making skills and Pike's sorbet.

In the Port Galley, Spock admits that he and Number One are not married, which Doug finds "very cool." After discovering La'An's intention to stir up a war involving the Klingons, Orions, Tholians, and Gorn Hegemony, Kirk and Scotty confront La'An in the Science Lab. Fortunately, Scotty rigged a button with a booby trap that incapacitates her.

With Doug's assistance, Spock connects with his temporarily Vulcan friends and convinces Pike, Uhura, and Chapel to become human again. Spock explains that being a Vulcan is not an easy way to live before visiting with La'An in the katra space of her own mind. Spock deduces that La'An's ancestral ties to the Augment tyrant Khan Noonien Singh awakened aggressive and paranoid tendencies when exposed to her Vulcan persona. La'An begins to fight Spock, but her combative stance gives way to an elegant dance and a concession to revert to her human form.

Uhura apologizes to Beto in the Transporter Room, admitting that she should have told him what was bugging her without "brainwashing" him. Batel receives a transmission from Pasalk, who stuns her with an offer to replace him as the Head of the Starfleet Judicial Department upon his forthcoming retirement. Pasalk admires the bluntness Batel displayed at the dinner. Chapel offers her own apologies in her quarters, where she prepares "unsatisfactory" plomeek soup for Spock and Korby.*****

La'An speaks with Una in the Port Galley, confessing that finding Spock's clean socks in a drawer in her quarters concerned her. Number One recalls stealing a shuttle to skinny dip in the Skaideion System with Doug when she was a lieutenant. Doug enters the Galley, ready with flowers in hand for a date with Una.

Across the room, Kirk uses a glass of Scotch to nurse the headache he inherited from his clash with La'An. Reflecting on all they have been through recently, Kirk and Scotty toast to the fact that they make a pretty good team. At the bar, Spock teaches a fascinated Doug about human customs and conjunctions.

* "Shore Leave" — The U.S.S. Enterprise crew visited another shore leave planet in this Original Series episode, while for Starfleet crews in "Captain's Holiday," "Let He Who is Without Sin...," and "Two Days and Two Nights," among others.

** "Amok Time" and "Kir'Shara" — Vulcan lirpas have appeared previously in episodes such as the Original Series classic and utilized in this Enterprise episode as energy weapons were useless in the Forge. Erica Ortegas also previously noted she sustained scars after getting in the middle of a Vulcan relationship and its subsequent fight that included a lirpa in "."

*** "The Andorian Incident" — T'Pol notes that she was given a nasal numbing agent to tolerate the human smell aboard the NX-01.

**** "" and "" — Pike experiences a deadly encounter with the Romulans in this alternate timeline, while La'An's accidental time-travel takes her into a time when the Vulcans are losing in a war with the Romulan Star Empire.

***** "Amok Time" — Christine Chapel makes plomeek soup for Spock, also to disastrous results, as he was undergoing pon-farr. Plomeek soup and broths were also a stable aboard the NX-01 and Voyager for their Vulcan crew, and enjoyed by the crew stationed at Deep Space 9.