Spock being forced to play the straight man to a bunch of freakish human shenanigans is a plot device that’s as old as time in this franchise, and Ethan Peck acting alongside a bridge full of stuffed cloth creatures that are each maybe a fourth of his size is fantastic television. He’s particularly great at conveying the Vulcan’s exasperation and steadily growing frustration with the fact that his now-puppet shipmates are essentially useless at almost every aspect of their jobs. (Tiny felt hands aren’t great at touchscreens, apparently.) As Spock races from station to station trying to do everything from piloting the ship and handling communications to fixing engineering problems, well…let’s just say it’s not great for all that anxiety he’s been having lately. And things get even more complicated when the Enterprise crosses paths with an Orion pirate ship, whose captain—upon learning the Federation vessel is currently being crewed by puppets—decides to take over the ship for herself.
What follows is…basically chaos, as the puppets battle (what ought to be) life-threatening injuries, conquer seemingly impossible obstacles (namely, doors), and fully embrace the absurdity of their situation to survive. Puppet Pike even gets thrown out an airlock—complete with a heartfelt farewell that’s basically a riff on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan—before someone realizes that puppets don’t actually need to breathe. A story about teamwork, thinking outside the box, and the freedom that comes with embracing your inner weirdness, “Level Five Transporter Accident” rejects the darker tones that its title implies in favor of lighthearted silliness and wonder. (It’s not an accident that it’s Pelia, a delightful freak on her best day, who immediately takes to being a puppet.) And it seems that Spock, on some level, may need to learn to roll with his real life in the same way. Or, at least, that’s what his apparent dreams seem to be trying to tell him.
Much of Spock’s journey over the course of Strange New Worlds has been about finding a comfortable balance between the human and Vulcan sides of his personality, a necessary quest if he’s to become the man we know him to be on Star Trek: The Original Series. This has played out in a variety of ways onscreen, most often through an irritating hyperfocus on his love life. (He even gets dumped by La’an in this very episode!) But thanks to a little help from his sometimes fiancée, sometimes ex, T’Pring, he seems to gain something that feels like perspective. (For now, at least.) Gia Sandhu is such a quiet MVP throughout this hour, her bone-dry delivery and consistent side-eye serving as a necessary counterweight to some of the more ridiculous puppet-based hijinks. (Also her puppet fashion is great.) Strange New Worlds has added a lot of necessary depth to Spock and T’Pring’s relationship, and it’s easy to see how good the two actually are for one another, whether its as friends or something more.
This is why it’s so unfortunate that the episode ends with the question of their romantic status once again up in the air. (In his dream, Spock kisses Puppet T’Pring, but doesn’t mention it to her afterward.) Their relationship is extremely charming—in all honesty, I’m kind of rooting for these crazy kids at this point—but with the clock ticking down to Strange New Worlds’s end, the “who should Spock be with romantically” plots are wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere.
