Stardate: 3177.3
Original Air Date: May 26, 2022
Writers: Davy Perez & Beau DeMayo
Director: Dan Liu
“The truth is plenty of people have seen the Gorn,
they just don’t live long enough to talk about it.”
At long last, the return of the Gorn! “Memento Mori” opens with a log from Security Officer Lt. La’an Noonien Singh. The Enterprise is currently en route to deliver an AP350 atmospheric processor upgrade to Finibus III, a remote planet where a colony currently resides. Without assistance, the air on the colony will become unbreathable in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, it is Remembrance Day –the crew don badges to honor the fallen dead of Starfleet.
Cadet Uhura is assigned to Engineering under the tutelage of Hemmer, and La’an struggles with her own memories of capture by the Gorn many years ago on this Remembrance Day. When the Enterprise arrives at Finibus III, there is no response to communication hails and the last log entered by the colony was two days ago. Spock initially suspects there might be interference from a nearby “large brown dwarf” but soon it is revealed that the colony’s satellite has been destroyed. Number One forms a landing party consisting of La’an, along with several others. On the planet’s surface, they find a mostly derelict colony which has been destroyed –hundreds of people are missing.
Suddenly, an unidentified ship appears. It turns out to be carrying a disheveled dazed portion of about one hundred colonists (including Professor Thandee of Finnebus III who tells Pike that their ship is used for transporting radioactive ore, the hull is transport resistant). They describe a blast from the sky and a loud ringing, followed by streaks in the sky like rain on fire. Many people disappeared, but bodies were never found: only blood. The colonists are unsure of how they survived. Concerned and confused, the Enterprise extends a tube connecting colonists to the Enterprise since transportation is impossible. Then a young girl among the rescued colonists runs through the Enterprise shouting that “the monsters are coming… the ones that took daddy!” She describes monsters who make a clicking noise –something that reminds La’an of a dark memory in her past… Suddenly, a Gorn ship appears out of nowhere and begins firing upon the Enterprise (unfortunately, the Enterprise cannot raise shields because it still has the colony ship attached via the tube). This has all been a trap.
During the Gorn attack, many on the Enterprise are wounded (including Number One who spends the rest of the episode in sickbay), and La’an heads straight to the bridge to instruct Captain Pike on tactical maneuvers since she was once captured by the Gorn as a child. She claims that the Gorn are vicious hunters who are relentless, so instead of facing the Gorn ship, the Enterprise heads for the nearby brown gas giant. Notably, the Gorn have never come this far before, opening up new hunting grounds –a disconcerting turn of events for the Federation.
“They aren’t supernatural, but they are monster. The Federation teaches that if we can find a way to empathize an enemy then they can one day become our friends –they’re wrong. Some things in this universe are just plain evil” -La’an
The Enterprise buys some time while inside the gas giant, however the ship is damaged. Pike encourages his crew to be vigilant and creative, they will only survive by working together. Uhura works with Hemmer in Engineering while Spock develops a complex method for tracking the Gorn using a compass of sorts, and the crew manages to “drop” a torpedo directly onto the Gorn ship, only to realize that the other Gorn in the region have actually intended for this to happen. They sacrificed an entire Gorn ship simply to uncover the Enterprise’s location. As Gorn ships begin to swarm the area, the Enterprise decides to dive deeper into the gas giant which causes significant pressure to the ship’s hull. Structural collapse begins to hit each deck, Lt. Kyle is only narrowly rescued. When a crew member dies, Pike decides to stand and face the Gorn since they intend to take the Enterprise crew as prisoners, but a Gorn ship cannot withstand the pressure this far into the gas giant and it explodes. Three civilians and seven crewmen lose their lives, and Spock shares that a nearby blackhole is slowly absorbing the giant brown dwarf. How will the Enterprise escape this predicament?
La’an and Spock volunteer to take the Galileo shuttle to travel undetected near the Gorn, and while secretly approaching the Gorn, Spock conducts a mind meld with La’an. Her memories transport them back to a Gorn feeding planet where La’an and her brother were kept as food for Gorn hatchlings. La’an is fearful of this meld, but still they venture deeper into her mind –and together they find a memory of her brother giving her a map of lights which the Gorn use to communicate. When a memory of Spock’s sister (Michael Burnham) surfaces, he promptly ends the mind-meld. But Spock has learned that the lights are a code for the Gorn. Using this knowledge, La’an communicates to the Gorn in space, stating that humans have taken over one of the Gorn vessels (the Gorn then destroy the vessel).
Spock and La’an return to the Enterprise, and Pike develops a plan to slingshot around the nearby blackhole while dropping the AP350 inside the blackhole –a highly dangerous plan—hoping it will fool the Gorn into believing the Enterprise is lost (Pike uses the metaphor of “playing dead” like snakes, ducks, and possums). Ortegas dubs it the “Pike Maneuver.” When the device explodes in the blackhole, the Gorn ship believes the Enterprise has been destroyed and it flees. Pike pledges to La’an that the Enterprise will be ready for the Gorn next time.
My Thoughts on “Memento Mori”
As of now I am very much enjoying each new episode of SNW, especially when the show gives each crewman a chance to deliver a log entry and share a glimpse of their background. In this case, “Memento Mori” is an episode devoted to Lt. La’an Noonien Singh. We learn more about her dark past in which she was captured by the Gorn, her brother’s self-sacrifice, and it explains why she seems to be such a prickly member of the crew.
In my view, the Gorn are done justice in this episode –even though they now apparently make “clicking” noises rather than growls—but nevertheless they remain a faceless, ferocious enemy. “Memento Mori” leaves us uneasy with a palpatable sense of tension and fear lurking around every corner. There are flashes of the submarine warfare themes found in “Balance of Terror.” But perhaps best of all, we are led to believe we will see the Gorn again in the future. Appropriately, the Enterprise is celebrating Remembrance Day on the same day that the Gorn make their terrifying return in Star Trek –with many fans honoring their own fond memories of the Gorn in the TOS season one classic “Arena.”
Lastly, the special effects in this episode are simply astounding –the black hole sequences at the end are stunning and reminiscent of scenes in great cinematic space operas. In summary, “Memento Mori” is another strong outing for SNW, a show which continues to buck the trend of the low expectations rife throughout much of modern Trek.
Star Trek Trivia:
- The title of this episode “Memento Mori” is a reference to a macabre ancient Latin phrase from classical antiquity (or “remember that you have to die”).
- This episode takes place on Starfleet’s Remembrance Day.
- According to Uhura, the AP350 Atmospheric processor device was invented by Zigwel Orgon in 2234, it was first deployed on Titan after the Crestbrock mining collapse. Unlike its predecessors, the upgraded model AP 350 use charged positron rods to stabilize the ion matrix which filters the air.
- The S.S. Puget Sound was the name of La’an’s colony ship which was captured by the Gorn.
- In this episode, it is established that the Gorn use their lights to communicate.
After the original Gorn impact in Arena, however they may improve on these reptilian alien beings in this century can be promising. So long as they learn from the mistakes made for the Klingons in Discovery. Thank you for your review and trivia.