Mind-Blowing Twists in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 3

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 3 - "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) becomes a guardian of the timeline, sacrificing her newfound love with Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). This emotionally charged episode takes viewers on a journey through time, exploring themes of love and loss. La'an is given a mysterious mission that transports her and Kirk back to 21st-century Toronto, where they must thwart a Romulan plot. Throughout their mission, La'an confronts the ghosts of her past, including Khan Noonien Singh (Desmond Sivan), who shares her namesake. "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" focuses on the unexpected partnership between La'an and Captain Kirk, who exist in an alternate reality. In this reality, Kirk is the captain of the USS Enterprise, a starship of the United Earth Fleet instead of Starfleet. The timeline they find themselves in is one of perpetual warfare against the Romulans, and Earth is a devastated battleground instead of the peaceful home of the United Federation of Planets. As they delve deeper into their mission, Kirk and La'an form a stronger bond while unraveling an attack that threatens to alter the timeline significantly. La'an's own life is forever transformed by the revelations she encounters and the sacrifices she makes along the way.

What Meeting Khan Means For La'an

In a confidential facility located in Toronto, affiliated with the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement, La'an makes a startling discovery. Contrary to her previous belief, the true objective of the Romulans is not a cold fusion reactor. Their plan is to eliminate Khan when he was just a young boy. Realizing this, La'an takes it upon herself to protect Khan by eliminating Sera, the Romulan operative who had posed as a human and had waited for decades to assassinate him. This act of defending Khan from timeline-altering Romulans not only challenges La'an's longstanding hatred towards her supervillain ancestor but also evokes a wave of conflicting emotions within her.

During an admission to Neera Ketoul in Season 2, Episode 2 of Strange New Worlds, La'an reveals her secret burden: she carries Khan's genetic augmentations and fears the possibility of transforming into a "monster" like him one day. Her constant need for composure and self-control stems from the dread of succumbing to Khan's fate. However, encountering Khan as a young boy and safeguarding him to prevent the emergence of Captain Kirk's alternative timeline shatters La'an's deeply ingrained beliefs. It raises the question of whether Khan's transformation into a monster was solely a consequence of his augmentations or if it was influenced by his upbringing and confinement in the genetic laboratory of the Noonien-Singh Institute. Despite sharing DNA with Khan, La'an possesses a fundamentally different nature. Her inherent heroism and commitment to saving lives, including Khan's, signify a distinct and divergent destiny for her.

What Young Khan In Strange New Worlds Means For Star Trek

Introducing Khan as a young boy in Strange New Worlds is a daring decision. It deviates from the previous portrayals of Khan as a fully-developed superhuman by Ricardo Montalbán and Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek Into Darkness. The intention was for La'an to realize that she never followed the same path as Khan in becoming like him. Khan is raised alongside other genetically engineered children who are likely to become his followers when he becomes a warlord and conquers a significant portion of the world during the Eugenics Wars. Strange New Worlds also suggests that the Noonien-Singh family experimented with eugenics, resulting in the creation of Khan and other Augments.

In Star Trek: Picard season 2, there is a hint at Khan's existence through a file labeled 'Project Khan', introduced by rogue geneticist Dr. Adam Soong. However, it is uncertain if the 21st-century timeline depicted in episode 3 of Strange New Worlds season 2 aligns with the reality of Star Trek: Picard season 2. "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" establishes Khan as a pivotal figure within this reality, and his removal from the timeline alters history in a negative way. The chaos and global disruption caused by Khan during the Eugenics Wars play a crucial role in shaping the optimistic future of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. However, since this young version of Khan never encounters Captain Kirk, Strange New Worlds does not violate the established Star Trek canon.

The Romulans' Timeline Plot Against Khan & How La'an Stopped It Explained

In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, it is unclear whether La'an and Kirk are in the past of the Prime Timeline or in the 21st century of Kirk's alternate timeline. Nonetheless, Romulan operatives, who had been undercover on Earth for many years, engaged in numerous acts of terrorism to hinder humanity's progress and prevent space travel. The Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations fought against the Romulans, but when one agent was shot (presumably by Sera), he traveled to the future USS Enterprise and sought the assistance of La'an Noonien-Singh. La'an was chosen specifically due to her shared surname with the Romulans' target.

Thinking that the Romulans' primary objective was a cold fusion reactor in Toronto, based on Kirk's recollections of 21st-century history in his timeline, both La'an and Kirk soon realized that their true target was the young Khan at the Noonien-Singh Institute. In the meantime, Sera, disguised as a human conspiracy theorist, disclosed the Romulans' plan to Kirk and La'an, revealing the accurate information as Sarah detected their potential to lead her to Khan.

La'an and Kirk believed that the 21st-century Toronto they traveled to was a crucial point where their respective timelines could diverge. It was also possible that they had been in the past of Kirk's timeline all along. However, according to Sera, time was resisting her attempts to rewrite history, and Khan's presence was an anomaly as he was "supposed to happen" in 1992 but was now appearing 30 years later. In the Prime Timeline of Star Trek, Khan had lost the Eugenics Wars and escaped Earth in 1996 aboard the SS Botany Bay. However, in "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow's" 21st-century Toronto, it seemed the Eugenics Wars had not yet occurred. It is possible that the flux and time in Strange New Worlds had combined the Eugenics Wars with World War III in the 21st century.

Ultimately, La'an's actions in killing Sera thwarted the Romulans' plot completely. Khan's survival in the 21st century created a different future for this reality, and it is possible that the Captain Kirk known to La'an might still come into existence in a timeline closely resembling the Prime Star Trek Timeline. However, since Khan and that reality were not erased when La'an returned to the Enterprise, it suggests that La'an had safeguarded the Prime Timeline's past. Strange New Worlds may be implying that the 21st century depicted in "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is, in fact, the past of the Prime Timeline. Regardless, La'an's temporal device, which protected her from timeline changes, eventually sent her back to her proper Enterprise.

What Captain Kirk's Death Means For Strange New Worlds

In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, a new iteration of alternate reality Captain Kirk, portrayed by Paul Wesley, is introduced. This version of Captain Kirk hails from the alternate timeline seen in the finale of Strange New Worlds season 1, titled "A Quality of Mercy," where he was first depicted. Referred to as the "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" Captain Kirk, he grew up in space on the USS Iowa and served as a soldier in the United Earth Fleet's war against the Romulans. Unfortunately, the Romulans employed temporal tactics, giving them an advantage, leading to their successful progression. Tragically, Captain Kirk is fatally shot by Sera after she calls his bluff. The storyline of "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" establishes a role reversal between Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" and Captain Kirk, transforming him into La'an's version of Edith Keeler, portrayed by Joan Collins.

La'an develops a deep infatuation with this particular incarnation of James T. Kirk. Immediately drawn to his charismatic, adventurous nature, she becomes progressively enamored with both his rugged qualities and inherent goodness. La'an endeavors to explain to Kirk her lifelong struggle to connect with others, emphasizing the need to keep her secret concealed by maintaining a distance. However, this version of James T. Kirk is unaware of the existence of Khan Noonien-Singh, as the Romulans assassinated him, preventing his rise to power in Kirk's timeline. Due to Kirk's unfamiliarity with "Khan Noonien-Singh," La'an sees this as an opportunity to finally let her guard down and reveal her authentic self to him. Tragically, Sera's bullet disrupts this possibility, causing La'an to lose Kirk before she can attempt to integrate him into her timeline.

Tragically, upon La'an's return to Star Trek's Prime Timeline, she immediately reached out to Lt. James T. Kirk on the USS Farragut. However, this encounter proved to be disheartening as this particular version of James had never crossed paths with her before. As a result, when Lt. Kirk eventually steps foot aboard the USS Enterprise in season 2 of Strange New Worlds, La'an finds herself faced with the distressing reality of her lost love being completely unaware of her identity. Consequently, in episode 3 of Strange New Worlds season 2, La'an is left grappling with her broken heart in solitude, unable to confide in anyone about her profound sense of loss and sorrow.

Strange New Worlds Brings Back Star Trek: DS9's Time Cops

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5's beloved episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," the Department of Temporal Investigations made their debut, aligning perfectly with a Strange New Worlds time travel storyline featuring Captain Kirk. Charged with safeguarding the timeline, this Federation agency deemed Kirk a "menace." A critically injured Temporal Investigations agent convinced La'an Noonien-Singh to join their ranks, while Agent Ymalay (Allison Wilson-Forbes) crossed paths with La'an following her triumphant mission to recover her time travel device. To compound Lieutenant Noonien-Singh's personal anguish, Ymalay strictly ordered her never to disclose any of her encounters to others.

Strange New Worlds Reveals More About Pelia

In season 2, episode 3 of Strange New Worlds, titled "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," we are introduced to Commander Pelia (played by Carol Kane), the new Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise. La'an reaches out to Pelia for assistance in the 21st century when she recalls the remarkably long lifespan of the Lanthanite and her possession of a bunker in Vermont housing the various (acquired) artifacts from ancient times. It comes as a surprise to La'an that Pelia, currently in the 21st century, is working in retail and has yet to achieve the esteemed status of a master engineer, a title she will hold in the 23rd century. According to Pelia herself, she last studied mathematics during the time when Pythagoras introduced the subject, which was prior to his passing in 495 B.C. This detail sheds light on the true age of the Lanthanite being much older than initially anticipated.

La'an, the Security Chief, started episode 3 of Strange New Worlds season 2 with immense frustration while dealing with Pelia. She had desired to stash her illicit goods on the Starship Enterprise. However, as the episode progressed, La'an's perspective of the Lanthanite changed, and she became appreciative of her. As they had encountered each other in an alternate timeline's 21st century, Pelia likely has no recollection of their meeting with La'an and James T. Kirk at "The Archaeology Department" in the Prime Timeline. Nonetheless, it was Pelia who sparked La'an's capability to locate the cold fusion reactor, leading them to Khan with James. Although La'an's affection for Pelia may be unreciprocated, their unique bond might play a role in future episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. Don't miss the streaming of season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds every Thursday on Paramount+.