Of all the genre-hopping Star Trek has done in its sixty-year history, the very last I’d have ever expected is soap opera. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” is another dip into “Strange New Genres,” but I think this one lands better than anyone ever would expect, myself included.
Put on some soft light, make your best dramatic face, and pause dramatically with me for a moment while we discuss Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass.”
Trelane is Back!
After “Wedding Bell Blues,” I never anticipated that we would see Trelane again, played by Rhys Darby, chronologically speaking, until “The Squire of Gothos” in Star Trek: The Original Series. But Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” pops him in with some popcorn.
Plus, he’s supervised by a proctor, who is wearing garb not entirely dissimilar from Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Encounter at Farpoint.” We’re making it abundantly clear, if it wasn’t clear enough in his previous appearance (accompanied by a voice-over from John de Lancie), that Trelane is definitely a Q.
Rhys Darby perfectly embodies, as Pike says, the childlike, godlike mannerisms of Trelane. He’s got a lot of whimsy, which makes him simultaneously charming, endearing, and frankly, a little annoying. In other words, perfectly a Q. It’s also notable that Trelane’s proctor says that these ‘ants,’ meaning humans, are worth closer observation. It’s a nice bit of foreshadowing for TNG. If we’re going to bring back a legacy character like Trelane, he is not more perfectly cast than Rhys Darby. Stay tuned to Fangirlish this week for a special interview I got to do with Rhys Darby about all his Star Trek shenanigans.
MORE: Catch up with the Strange New Worlds news from SDCC!
And We’re in a Soap Opera?!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” is an exploration of the soap opera genre. With wild, exaggerated, non-existent diseases and medical procedures, like “Cosmic Amnesia,” and “Space Madness,” and a “living heart transplant,” it’s a hilarious sci-fi parody of the genre. And yet it is exactly what a space soap opera (but not a space opera, mind you) would be.
Of course, we lean into other tropes of the genre, like an evil twin scenario with Spock and Sybok, and a secret daughter scenario with Uhura and Pike. We even get a nod to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier when “Sybok” asks La’an to “Share your pain with me!” However, “sharing pain,” so to speak, is exactly what this episode is doing. More on this in a moment.
MORE: Check out our reviews of episode 1, episode 2, and episode 3!
Ship’s Counselor on Deck
Something I’ve pondered many times about Strange New Worlds is whether or not there’s a counselor on board, particularly since mental health is a huge theme in Star Trek: Discovery, where Star Trek: Strange New Worlds got its start. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” finally introduces us to the ship’s counselor, Dr. Eleanor Chivers. Dr. Chivers is played by Deidre Hall, aka Dr. Marlena Evans from Days of Our Lives, a role she’s played for 50 years.
Since she is introduced as part of the soap opera scenario, I questioned whether she was someone invented by Trelane. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that she is not a figment of our collective imagination.
There’s much nuance to the way Deidre Hall portrays Dr. Chivers. There’s no dramatic overacting, but rather the sympathetic ear of a caring counselor, particularly one who knows when to give you a less-than-gentle nudge about taking care of your mental health. Deidre Hall walks that line perfectly as Dr. Chivers. Stay tuned to Fangirlish this week for an interview with Deidre Hall. Hall is a Star Trek fan in her own right and says many interesting things about her role.
MORE: Read our reviews of episode 4, episode 5, and episode 6!
Loss and Grief
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” is a surprising treatise on loss and grief. The soap opera parody masks the true emotional poignancy of the episode. This allows the story to disarm the viewer and then ninja kick them in the feels.
As Dr. Chivers says, “The search for emotional truth and scientific truth are the same; you just have to want to see it.” Yes, there is a scientific reason for the predicament the Enterprise is in. Trelane is the reason. However, it’s fueled by the emotional turmoil that Pike is experiencing from the loss of Marie and Juliet.
“We forget details, but never the feelings,” says Juliet, Pike’s daughter. Pike’s emotional experiences with her are real. They are real even if they were not in this reality or more than in his head. The emotions that linger are real. Dr. Chivers says, “When we lose someone, we don’t just mourn that person, we mourn the loss of a future with them.” This is the line that totally gutted me. In my own life, having experienced losses of my own, I have never been able to quite name that grief.
Pike is not just mourning the absence of his family with Marie and Juliet. He’s also mourning that he can never make coq au vin with Juliet again. He’s mourning the lifetime he spent with Marie because he’ll never be able to have that again. This is the emotional kicker of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass.” I argue that you cannot get there without this soap opera vehicle. Pike needs it to disarm him, and frankly, I did too.
MORE: Anson Mount chats being part of Star Trek’s 60th and more, along with Rebecca Romijn and Carol Kane in this roundtable interview!
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” puts us off guard with a wild swing. It then forces our characters, and the viewers, to confront difficult emotions. The addition of Rhys Darby, and particularly Deidre Hall, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” makes the episode work.
Before we wrap, I have a few questions. Where is La’an going? The goodbye she gives Spock seems more like a formal goodbye, rather than a “See you later.” Details, please! Will we get to see the real Sybok again, and will he be, as fans have been clamoring, played by Zachary Quinto? I’ve been hoping for this since season one, so let’s get on it!
Finally, the soap opera end credits sequence with a sexy sax cover of the Strange New Worlds theme and the “Days of the Enterprise” closing logo are perfection. Everyone’s dramatic faces are wonderfully over the top, and then we cut to the commercial break I anticipated all episode. Don’t forget to pick up your shaky box!
MORE: Watch our interview with Ethan Peck, Christina Chong, and Paul Wesley HERE!
What do you think of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 7 “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass”? Leave me a comment and let’s talk Trek.
The next episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will air on September 10, 2026, on Paramount+.
