Star Trek: Strange New Worlds set online discourse ablaze with the arrival of Season 2's "Under The Cloak Of War," which quickly became the most polarizing episode yet from the modern era. The story focused on the horrors of the Klingon war, as well as the impact it had on Dr. M'Benga and others, in what will presumably live on as one of the franchise's darkest adventures. It's the kind of reputation that the episode's director Jeff Byrd willingly embraces, which he discussed in an interview with CinemaBlend.
I had a chance to speak with Jeff Byrd, who helmed the seventh ep of Star Trek: Trek: Strange New Worlds' second season. I mentioned during our interview, which took place the day the episode was first available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription, that the morning was already full of social media reactions that were near-universal in calling it one of the franchise's darkest stories to date. I asked Byrd if it was daunting to take on an episode that flew in the face of what fans typically see in Trek, and he said he wasn't at all nervous. In his words:
I actually love the darkness. Here’s my thing. You asked me a good question because I felt like, you know what, there has to be a dark side to Star Trek. There has to be, you know? I get that we're here to explore and see strange new worlds and see all the things, but also, you know what, there's some killing that's happening out there in the universe, and there's some wars that happened. Even though in the OG [series], you see all the different people are at war, I think this was good to literally remind us that Starfleet is, sometimes is at war and trying to help and trying to do this and that and their people die. And also, there are some strike teams out there, M’Benga is part of a strike team. There are some strike teams out there, you know, black ops teams that can medically aid and take you out. And he was one of those guys at one point in his Starfleet career.
As mentioned, the episode looked back on Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel's time together in the Klingon War years earlier. This became relevant when the Klingon ambassador Rah arrived on the Enterprise. Formerly known as a fearsome war criminal, Rah gained amnesty by killing his own men after being disgusted by their actions, and then defecting to Starfleet. The act gained him the nickname "The Butcher of J'Gal."
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revealed, however, that Rah's acts were a farce. M'Benga knew this because he was part of the Starfleet strike team sent in to kill Rah and earn Starfleet a much-needed win. M'Benga was the one who killed Rah's men, while the latter fled in fear, and he struggled with the outcome in which Rah lived with an honored legacy in Starfleet while never answering for his crimes, which included the slaughter of civilian Klingons on J'Gal. When M'Benga revealed his shared history with Rah, there was a struggle between the two men that left the Klingon ambassador dead. In the end, the audience was intentionally left in the dark as to whether M'Benga murdered Rah outright, killed his foe in self-defense, or if something else occurred.
Jeff Byrd spoke more about the heart of M'Benga's story, telling me that he loved the idea of leaning into the unpleasant moments Starfleet had to get through to maintain peace. He also expressed he'd want to see more from that side of the storytelling, if possible:
I love that because I want to see a little bit more of that. A whole other Star Trek show that's based in, ‘OK, we do the dirty deed for, you know, for everybody in the universe. We go around, and we're like, ‘You know what. Starfleet sent us out to do the dirty deed. So that would be good to see and just to see how that weighs, I mean, this was a good glimpse into it to see how a Starfleet black ops [member] would react and be at the end. How they actually have their PTSD kick in potentially because you are going out there and they're going ‘Ok, they don't agree to terms. All right. Well, we'll turn a blind eye to that,' and somebody goes, 'Ok, send a strike team,' and then they go in it. It's kind of interesting.
I agree it would be interesting to see more Starfleet secret operations in upcoming Trek shows, and Jeff Byrd may get his wish. We know that Michelle Yeoh will return to the franchise for a movie centered around Section 31, the organization of Starfleet that does the types of things a black ops team would do. So here's hoping Byrd gets to help bring that story to life.
Given that Yeoh's Georgiou was traveling through time when she departed on Discovery, it'd be pretty awesome if she went back to a time when she could team up with a slightly younger Dr. M'Benga. It'd also just be cool to see actor Babs Olusanmokun added to the cast of that movie to further boost the star power of the movie we'll eventually watch on Paramount+.
Don't expect Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to get much darker in the follow-up episode, which will be the franchise's first musical event. It'll be a nice chaser after such a bleak installment, but one has to believe we'll revisit M'Benga's situation in the future. I'd imagine that eventually, someone is going to remember the history between M'Benga and Rah and start asking more questions.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Season 2 is almost over, so be sure to catch up and be ready for what will hopefully be an eventful season finale.
