“Is There in Beauty No Truth?”
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 8 – Debuted Monday, July 1, 2024
Written by Keith Sweet II
Directed by Ruolin Li & Andrew L. Schmidt
A unique strange new world opens up impactful character exploration for Zero.
Don’t worry, just a little space duct tape and I’ll be fine.
WARNING: Spoilers below!
RECAP
“Is this unbridled bliss?”
After their heroism fighting the evil computer, Zero is unable to do much without robo-limbs and feels like a burden… but is still ready with quips. While keeping an eye on their course, they get a telepathic message from another Medusan offering help and providing coordinates to a colony of non-corporeals. After some debate, the crew decides the mission to find Chakotay (and save Gwyn from fading out of existence) can wait for Zero to get help. Arriving at Ovidia IV, they are surprised to be greeted by lithe green humanoids with dazzling eyes. The leader, Ion, explains this beautiful ringed world has the unique ability to foster corporeal forms for energy beings. Zero takes up the offer for their own real body—and yes, this all seems way too good to be true as we hear one Ovidan say to Ion, “You did not tell them everything.” Zero emerges from a pod, taking a moment to get used to having legs, a tongue, and all the other bits, with “This feels glorious.” They are thrown right into the thick of it with the Ovidian Feast of the Senses, where they get some eating (and burping!) tips from Pog and even try their feet at some dancing, sadly with Elaine-level skill. This relaxed party atmosphere turns awkward for Dal and Gwyn, who still don’t know what’s up with each other, so they talk to Ion about the festival and ask about the flower garlands being worn for those joining the “running of Namazon,” including Zero. Turns out that they are focused on experiencing the “forgotten sense,” the sense of fear. What better way to feel alive than to literally run for your life from a monster? Oh, and if any of the colonists leave the planet their new bodies will start to deteriorate, so no one leaves. That sound you hear is the other corporeal shoe dropping.
Taking eating lessons from Pog may set a bad precedent.
“I know where I belong.”
As Zero joins the other runners, they get the first sense something is up when one notes that some don’t make it to the other side. Just as the gang catches up to warn Zero, a giant creature swoops down from above to scoop up the floating flower petals into his huge maw. The group also lets Z know their new body is linked to the planet, and they are taken aback mostly by how their friends risked their lives to warn… and that’s when the nazemon scoops up Dal. Zero jumps in just as the creature flies up to the clouds. Once they clamber out of the toothless mouth, they take in the beauty of this planet. Below, their friends attract the nazemon with more flowers, Dal and Zero jump off, and they all head back to town where Zero makes the big decision. They will risk losing their body by leaving with their friends. Everyone on the planet is nice about it; these folks weren’t evil, they only wanted to give Zero the experience and the choice.
Meanwhile on Voyager, the gang plays (and beats) the Novas in Parisses Squares, but it was all just a ruse. Maj’el was showing Janeway these aren’t the real prodigies and the Doctor is embarrassed to discover they are holo-dupes, inspired by his own holo-novel. But holo-Gwyn isn’t there, so they reactivate her and she reveals how the real kids took the Infinity after getting a message from Chakotay. Her terrifying memories of the time-stopping tentacle monster force them to shut down her program. Janeway puts a point on the ominous mood, ending things with “I don’t know who or what is after them, but if we don’t find them first, we may lose more than just eight minutes.” Oh right, there is more going on than just having new adventures and discovering how to burp.
Everyone staring at me isn’t helping my holo-anxiety.
ANALYSIS
Making a choice
Continuing the recent trend of putting aside the bigger mission for an episodic planet adventure, this is a heartwarming deep dive into Zero and their relationship with the rest of the crew. The clue that this is a Zero episode is apparent from the title itself, “Is There in Beauty No Truth?” a spin on the classic Star Trek episode “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” which introduced Medusans. After Zero’s heroics in the previous episode, it’s nice to see the gang rally behind trying to help them after the loss of their robotic body, after the suspiciously convenient opportunity to get a brand new body on Ovidia IV. It was obvious there was more to the story behind this non-corporeal colony, with the twist being there wasn’t a malevolent big bad. Even the nazamon was just a nice sky whale scooping up flowers. The locals were well-meaning, and that word “choice” comes up quite a lot in this episode. It’s clear there is an allegorical message here about giving people agency and acceptance in finding their own path, in this case Zero choosing to have this body and then choosing to risk it for the sake of their friends. As Ion says, “I gave them the choice, nothing more. The truth will come,” which is all very modern and very classic Star Trek. Angus Imrie steps up to carry the episode and this theme throughout. And if all that body and identity positivity isn’t enough, there was still plenty of humor, including those of the lowest of brows—but kids of all ages love a good burp joke.
Don’t worry, the swirling eyes won’t turn you crazy.
While the focus was rightfully on Zero’s adventure on Ovidia IV, the couple of dips into the Voyager-A did move the season arc along. It would have been an insult to these legacy characters for the holo-dupe ruse (with mixed personalities) to continue, even if it took Maj’el to force the issue. But if you are looking for stakes, it is now pretty clear there is a genuine space and time monster out there and it is hunting the kids, with Janeway thankfully now on the case to do something about it. And one delightful surprise: We actually saw a game of Parrises Squares being played. Often mentioned before, this future sport had never been shown before in Trek canon. The result was a fun mix of basketball, lacrosse, and American Gladiator. It would have been a nice touch to see the kids wearing those blue Parrises Squares outfits from the TNG episode “11001001,” but this is still another excellent example of how this show, especially in its second season, is weaving in elements of canon in fun and subtle ways.
Careful Murf, the FPL (Federation Parrises League) has rules against excessive celebrations.
Final thoughts
What could have been another simple entertaining planetary adventure ends up having a huge impact on one of our characters that will certainly have even more implications as the season progresses. After a handful of diverting episodes and some fun along the way, there’s now a pivot back to the big picture behind the season. Next up is a two-parter for episodes 9 and 10, which (as originally designed) would have been a big mid-season finale.
Careful, don’t want to void the warranty on my new body.
BITS
- Stardate: 61881.4.
- The gang wears the same Medusan-protecting eyewear as Spock did in the TOS episode “Is There in Truth No Beauty?“
- In addition to Medusans, the non-corporeal refuge included Paxans and Calamarains.
- Zero’s new face is likely designed to resemble their voice actor, Angus Imrie.
- The running of the nazamon is much like the traditional running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
- Moment of science: hydrocarbon chains are the building blocks of life.
- The Ovidians wear jewelry inspired by African neck rings.
Oh these? They just make us look cool.
TrekMovie’s Prodigy July binge-watch
Since all 20 episodes were released on Netflix at once, we’re binging it in five-episode arcs; we can’t stick to watching just one a week! Each All Access Star Trek podcast (every Friday morning) will cover five episodes, while written reviews for all five will publish throughout the week, with two-parters paired up. This will all wrap up just as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at the end of the month. We also hope to have more Prodigy interviews and analysis in July and beyond.
NEW: Full spoiler open thread!
We welcome fans joining us through our July coverage of 5 episodes each week, and we ask our readers to keep comments related to the season up to the episode being reviewed.
For those choosing to binge the show even faster, we have created an open thread where you can post all the spoiler comments you want for the entire season.
Season 2 of Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
I’m still not 100% sure about this since there are so many really strong episodes this season, but a big part of me thinks this might be my favorite of season 2. Zero’s whole emotional journey this episode was really well done. The art and music is beautifully handled, emphasizing at least two of the heightened senses that Zero must be feeling, and helps bring a sense of wonder, awe, and latter tension to the episode.
Agree with all if this. The show is so beautiful to look at and it’s such a delight to watch these characters and all their personal journeys.
This was such a well done episode.
Given that “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” has long had my vote for the best episode of TOS’ third year, I suppose it’s only fitting that I found this show to be a real return to form for “Prodigy.” A sense of wonder and possibility has always been SF’s gift to youth and the young-at-heart, and this story had it in spades, reminding me of the episodic world building of the first season at its best. (As for the burp jokes — well, what the hell, it’s a kid’s show.) Add-in wonderful production design and some of the coolest music I’ve heard on Trek in some time, and I’m definitely back on board, at least for now.
Love that title haha!
I was so happy to see Zero given a real body and I assumed like most that they would return to their natural state by the end of the episode but this show constantly surprises you.
It was an inspired choice to have a medusan as a main character and like in classic Star Trek form from Spock to Seven of Nine, explore what identity means to a character in a sea of diverse species and differences; especially the rare non-humanoid species that has to interact with them.
It’s nice to have a show that gives me a true sense of wonder and reflection again.
I thought the episode was a little one-sided. Sure, if you have a physical body, you get to experience delightful things, but you also get to experience pain, fatigue, hunger, thirst, and so on. I think the episode would have been stronger if they’d included just two minutes about how corporeal bodies can ALSO experience bad things.
The older I get, the more I wish I could be a non-corporeal entity. :-)
Indeed, in just a few moments Kollos, the “original” Medusan, was able to express amazement at the range of corporeal senses, bemusement at the concept of spoken language, and a fair amount of horror at the isolation of being entombed in a physical body. But it’s easy enough to criticize a show for the things it didn’t do, and given the time constraints, the serialized format, and the intended audience, I thought they did pretty well by the subject matter.
Well, the episode made me uncomfortable because of the undercurrent of “Medusans should be more like us; being corporeal is BETTER.” It’s fine for the Federation folks to think that their ideology is better than that of people without ideals of equality, cooperation, and fairness, but to suggest that their bodies are superior feels far too much like racism to me; it’s a message I never want to see in Star Trek.
I’m sure it wasn’t MEANT that way, but that’s how it came across to me.
Given that this is not a self-contained story like the TOS episode, there is an opportunity for the show to explore all the layers and complexities. Zero is carving out their own identity. I haven’t finished the season and will not give away spoilers, but Zero’s arc is not over.
Oh, that’s a good point; thanks so much for that!
Wow; I didn’t get that from the episode at all. And, with respect, I’m not sure why you would be disturbed by an implication that, by your own reckoning, the episode didn’t intend to convey.
Unintentional negative messages are still negative messages. For people of good will, it’s our unexamined biases that wreak havoc, because we’re usually in control of our known ones. :-)
Ask any person of color, any feminist, any gay person who came out during the 20th century if unintentional negative messages don’t hurt.
But David said that there’s more coming, so I’m hanging loose until then.
But if the “message” was unintended, how do you know that it even exists anywhere outside your own consciousness, in your interpretation of the work in question?
I understand that unintentional negative stereotyping is a thing (hilariously parodied in HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE when a Black actor who trained with the Royal Shakespeare Company can’t get a job playing a pimp). But this was a story that portrayed the joys of having an embodied consciousness, just as “Metamorphosis” did in 1968, as opposed to one that maligned or stereotyped being bodiless. I get your point, but at the same time my concern is that you get art by having your audience empathize with a stranger’s choices, whatever their gender or ethnicity or corporeal status, and not by checking-off boxes on a politically-approved list.