Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9 – “Terrarium”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s penultimate episode combines some of the greatest hits of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation to deliver an hour fans have demanded. Directed by Andrew Coutts and written by Alan B. McElroy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 9, “Terrarium,” is Lieutenant Erica Ortegas’ (Melissa Navia) long-awaited spotlight.
“Terrarium” strands Lt. Erica Ortegas on a desolate planetoid after her shuttle mission through a mysterious wormhole goes awry. Another lifeform is also stuck on the rock orbiting a gas giant that’s about to fry them both: a female Gorn pilot (Warren Scherer) who Erica must befriend to survive and be rescued by the USS Enterprise.
Ortegas and the Gorn’s surprising and poignant friendship in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, echoes Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) predicament in the Star Trek: The Next Generation classic, “Darmok.” “Terrarrium” also nods to the 1980s sci-fi film Enemy Mine.
However, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8’s greatest link is to Star Trek: The Original Series season 1’s “Arena,” when Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) battled and showed mercy to a Gorn. “Terrarium” ultimately reveals itself to be a direct prelude to Kirk’s showdown with the Gorn on Cestus III.
Ortegas’ Friendship With The Gorn Ends In Tragedy
Lt. Erica Ortegas and the Gorn pilot thought they were saved when Erica’s gambit to set off a flare that would light up the planetoid and signal the Starship Enterprise worked. Ortegas and the Gorn were safe behind the alien reptile’s heat shield.
When Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and her security team beamed down, however, La’an saw the Gorn and didn’t hesitate to shoot and kil her. La’an only saw their enemy who nearly killed Erica already in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s premiere. La’an had no way to understand Erica’s situation before she acted instinctively.
The Gorn pilot was doomed even if she had been rescued by her own kind. The Gorn don’t tolerate weakness, and the pilot’s injury and friendship with a human Starfleet Officer would have condemned her if she returned to her people.
Ortegas offered the Gorn protection and asylum if she returned with Erica to the USS Enterprise. Tragically, La’an’s instinctive defensive act cut down the possibility of Starfleet meeting a Gorn and having a meaningful dialogue that could have led to peace.
Star Trek: The Original Series’ Space Gods The Metron Returns
Worsening Lt. Erica Ortegas ordeal is the revelation that all of it was a manipulative experiment by the Metron, the seemingly omnipotent space gods from Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Arena.” A member of the Metron (Driush Zaheh) revealed himself to Erica after freezing time.
The Metron explained their race’s curiosity about the barbaric humans and Gorn and whether they could get along. Ortegas and the Gorn pilot proved it was possible, until La’an murdered the reptile. The Metron wiped Erica’s mind, but allowed her to retain her memories of her friendship.
The Metron’s appearance is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds directly setting up the rationale for why they meddled with humans and the Gorn again in TOS‘ “Arena.” However, the Metron’s appearance undercut the already poignant and powerful drama between Erica and the Gorn, and the shoehorning reveal of the Metron felt unwelcome.
The Metron is the second Star Trek: The Original Series space god to return in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, after Trelane (Rhys Darby) guest starred in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 2, “Wedding Bell Blues.” John de Lancie also cameoed and voiced Trelane’s father in the episode.
What Ortegas Learned From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3
Coping with her trauma from the Gorn abducting and nearly killing her is Lt. Erica Ortegas’ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 arc. This is something the omniscient Metron likely knew, hence opening up a mysterious wormhole so that Ortegas would pilot a shuttle and crash on the same planetoid as the already-stranded Gorn.
Lt. Ortegas displayed the highest ideals of Starfleet and the noblest values of Star Trek.
Lt. Ortegas displayed the highest ideals of Starfleet and the noblest values of Star Trek when she overcame her initial fear and hatred. Erica reciprocated the Gorn’s compassion when the indigenous lifeforms attacked her, and Ortegas cared for the injured Gorn and ultimately forged a genuine friendship.
Placed in an impossible scenario, Erica learned to look beyond the Gorn’s fearsome visage and recognized a fellow pilot in an identical predicament who was lonely. Once Erica saw the Gorn as a friend, she didn’t hesitate to treat her as she would anyone else she cares about.
The Metron allowing Ortegas to retain her memories of the Gorn is a blessing and a curse. Erica can honor her friend’s memory, and her experience can become the start of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets gaining a greater understanding of the Gorn Hegemony.
However, Ortegas also understands La’an’s impulse to kill the Gorn, based on Lieutenant Noonien-Singh’s past with the alien reptiles. Ultimately, Erica has to reconcile that her friend killed her other friend in a misguided attempt to save Ortegas. It will be interesting to see how Erica and La’an move forward from this experience.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Finally Delivered The Ortegas Episode Fans Demanded
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8 finally delivered the Erica Ortegas-centic hour fans have wanted since first meeting the USS Enterprise’s snarky chaos muppet pilot in season 1. Fans coined the hashtag #Mortegas to show their support for Erica. “Terrarium” is even moreso, it’s the #Mostegas we’ve ever had from Strange New Worlds.
As an Ortegas spotlight, “Terrarium” does not disappoint. Melissa Navia puts on a one-woman show for nearly the entire episode. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” paired La’an and Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) in a romantic two-hander, but Navia’s feat is even more impressive as her only scene partner was a Gorn.
Lt. Erica Ortegas’ ingenuity in a daunting crisis was also a revelation. Erica displayed the brilliance and resourcefulness of a Starfleet engineer, jerry-rigging a water condenser, and constructing a makeshift universal translator so that she could share basic communication with the Gorn.
Aboard the Starship Enterprise, Ensign Nyota Uhura’s (Celia Rose Gooding) unyielding determination to rescue Erica showed the true depths of their friendship. Captain Pike saw through Uhura’s desperation and breaking of rules to rescue Ortegas, but he commiserated since Erica means just as much to him.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8 may nod to other notable episodes of Star Trek, but “Terrarium” is, inarguably, Lt. Erica Ortegas and Melissa Navia’s finest hour.
