Khan and his people face the truth. In the future, Tuvok and Dr Lear do the same.

It’s almost impossible to do what this season has done. It tells a complete, coherent story that doesn’t just plug into arguably the two most renowned Star Trek stories of all time, but it provides added context for them and welcome character development for a surprising array of Star Trek icons. Perhaps the most impressive is Tuvok, whose discovery that Lear really is Khan’s daughter proves a catalyst for both the ethics we see in Voyager and the Vulcan officer’s esoteric, ethical problem solving. Bigotry, as others reviews have said, has no place in Starfleet. Hearing a show say that with its whole chest, and say that through characters like Tuvok, is a tonic a lot of people needed in 2025 I suspect.

But the bulk of this episode, even as it tap dances between time periods, must be about Khan and it does not disappoint. There are three moments here where you’re convinced the end game is in place and all of them orbit Khan’s internal and external struggles. His friendships with Delmonda and Ivan provide the North and South to those struggles. The former sees him find ethics, and emotional growth which is only accelerated further by his sincere love for his daughter. The latter reminds him who he used to be and how, despite his best efforts, he’s more now. There are moments of genuine heroism here, and they land without once letting us forget Khan is a monster, or how he was shaped. It’s extraordinarily gifted writing and acting and Naveen Andrews is superb here, more even than his impressive work all season.

But for all Khan’s growth, this story is a tragedy. Ivan’s reveal that he survived by eating Ceti eels despite their toxicity implies that may explain why Khan’s madness accelerated. Khan’s reaction when the Venture is apparently destroyed is the single worst thing he could do at the single worst time. None of them have any manner of luck and only Lear and Tuvok, with the benefit of hindsight, can see that. There’s no forgiveness, except perhaps for Lear’s heartbreaking relief at realising her dad simply thought she was dead instead of abandoning her. But there is context, and time, and a story with lofty aspirations that has more than lived up to them.

Verdict: This is a worthy experiment about a failed experiment, and it’s one I hope Star Trek repeats. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart