Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” gives us something that I didn’t think we’d see until perhaps the series finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Kirk in the big chair. To be fair, it’s not the Enterprise, but still. This is Strange New Worlds giving us a taste of future Star Trek. Without further ado, let’s dig into my review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
TOS Crew: Assemble!
One thing that I thought was particularly interesting in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” is that we have assembled every member of the Strange New Worlds cast who is in Star Trek: The Original Series. One of my We Are Starfleet cohosts, Craig McKenzie, has speculated for some time that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is leading to a soft TOS reboot. This episode, to me, all but confirms that theory.
Every single member of the TOS crew finds themselves trapped on the Farragut with Kirk, and it gives us an opportunity to see Kirk test his mettle. Kirk is not so confident in the chair in this first go around, and I love that. So many uphold Kirk as captain perfection, and no shade to TOS Kirk, as he is a good captain, but he had to get there somehow. This Kirk struggles with the weight of leadership and is still finding his footing. Yes, he wants to “boldly go,” but he also needs to boldly look before he leaps and boldly listen to the expertise of his crew members.
More Kirk or Less Kirk?
The struggle here is understandable and knocks Kirk off his pedestal, but the real gold is his interaction with Spock. It’s a foretaste of the friendship and camaraderie Spock and Kirk share in Star Trek: The Original Series. This scene is played masterfully by both Ethan Peck and Paul Wesley. I am not casting aspersions on Paul Wesley’s performance as Kirk, but I do wish his appearances were more sparing.
We have the entirety of Star Trek: The Original Series, seven TOS films, and three Kelvin timeline movies with Kirk. I want to get to know the characters in Strange New Worlds that we don’t see in these future series and films. While I am still getting more Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds than I’d like, I will be significantly less annoyed by it if the quality of the writing lines up with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
Who Ya Gonna Call? Pelia!
Pelia’s humor and lengthy lifespan provide the levity that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” desperately needs. “This is one of the only times I’ve been glad to have lived through the 1980s!” had me rolling as someone who also lived through the 1980s. The classic telephones are nice, but calling an Atari 2600 a “good time on a Friday night” fills me with delight. Fun fact: Atari, and in truth, any other retro gaming is always a fun time on a Friday night and any other days that end in Y.
As someone with an affinity for retro tech, knowing that Pelia hung onto landline phones and was able to hotwire them into the Enterprise makes me feel completely justified in hanging on to things like my VCR, my laserdisc player, and all of my retro gaming systems. You’ll never know when you need them.
MORE: Read our Strange New Worlds season 3 reviews—Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5.
Empathy for Your Enemy
One of the best parts of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” is the hard lesson in empathy that Kirk learns. Yes, when faced with a monstrous-looking ship that literally just blew up a planet and seemingly ate the flagship of Starfleet, Kirk’s reaction is reasonable. He’s acting in self-defense of his crew, the Enterprise, and the planet that the scavenger ship is heading towards. Coms are down, and no communication is possible between either of the Federation ships or the scavenger ship.
However, it never occurred to him how the folks running the scavenger ship ended up as scavengers, or who they might actually be. Pike’s words, “Empathy isn’t conditional. It’s either given or it isn’t,” show Pike’s growth here. He went from calling the Gorn “monsters” to reconsidering that position in season 2 episode 10 “Hegemony.” But it hits different knowing the scavengers were human, further, that they were descendants of people from Earth. This is a lesson that we see Kirk carry into “Arena” and “Space Seed,” and we’re getting a preview of that here.
MORE: Check out our interviews with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Melissa Navia!
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” is the best episode of Strange New Worlds we’ve had all season. This feels like the storytelling that Star Trek does best—stories that make us ask thoughtful ethical questions. Here, we have Kirk modeling the challenges and weight of leadership. But we’re also forced to consider the consequences of a lack of integrity and the importance of optimism.
Integrity is often described as whether or not you act on what you say when no one is looking. If you do, that’s integrity. How did that optimistic crew from the 21st century go from the best humanity has to offer to a generational ship that preys upon anyone with the misfortune to stray in their path? When did they lose their integrity? What caused them to abandon optimism? It is a cautionary tale that we need to take seriously in our current socio-political moment. Optimism for our future starts now if we are to propel ourselves into a more optimistic future.
What did you think of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 6 “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”? Leave me a comment and let’s talk Trek.
The next episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will air on August 21, 2025, on Paramount+.
