RED ALERT! The highly anticipated musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Subspace Rhapsody,” debuted for streaming on Thursday, August 3, on Paramount Plus. If you haven’t had a chance to watch yet and wish to avoid spoilers, come back to this page after watching to learn why the title card could have read: “That Old Status Quo.” (Yes, ensigns Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) would be relieved.)
***Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 7, “Subspace Rhapsody”**
Thus far, SNW has delivered on connecting its stories and characters to Star Trek: The Original Series in a way that appeals to long-time Trekkies and new viewers alike by introducing storylines that do not require viewers to be well-versed in Star Trek lore. Although one returning TOS side character, Spock’s fiancée T’Pring (Arlene Martel (TOS), Gia Sandhu (SNW)), and two returning TOS mainstays, Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (TOS), Jess Bush (SNW)), who first appeared in season 1, episode 4, “The Naked Time,” as the U.S.S. Enterprise‘s nurse, and Spock (Leonard Nimoy (TOS), Ethan Peck (SNW)), who first appeared in the 1965 pilot “The Cage,” have been at the heart of the series’ drama, viewers didn’t need to be familiar with the thruple’s history before beginning SNW until now.
Before “Subspace Rhapsody,” the SNW writers have been playing with the idea of a pseudo-relationship between Chapel and Spock, building on the characters’ sexual tension introduced in “The Naked Time” when, after the crew becomes intoxicated by a polywater that destroys inhibitions, Chapel professes her love to Spock (at the time, her confession didn’t make sense as no history between the characters was established). Following this initial encounter, Chapel seemed destined to pine for Spock for eternity, without the Vulcan ever reciprocating her advances: In the TOS season 2 premiere “Amok Time,” Chapel she prepares him plomeek soup during his pon farr, getting the bowl thrown at her for her trouble; but then, when he is injured in episode 19, “A Private Little War,” the incident doesn’t stop her from tenderly holding his hand. Although Spock and Chapel kiss in the TOS season 3, episode 10, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” it’s under duress and leaves the nurse feeling humiliated.
When SNW came along, it retrofitted the Spock-Chapel relationship, finally giving Spapel shippers what they wanted. Other fans argued their new relationship was at the expense of canon. Well, this week, in season 2, episode 7, “Subspace Rhapsody,” the duo took steps toward re-establishing the she wants to, but he won’t relationship they are known for in TOS.
T’Pring, Spock, and Chapel: A love triangle history
The love triangle between T’Pring, Spock, and Chapel has been an ongoing narrative in SNW. In the series premiere, “Strange New Worlds,” Spock gets engaged to T’Pring, who he has been bonded with since they were children, as per Vulcan tradition. However, throughout the first two seasons of SNW, their relationship has hit several rough patches due to T’Pring’s family’s prejudice against humans, Spock’s commitments to Starfleet, and his increasing closeness with Chapel, currently a civilian nurse serving under Chief Medical Officer Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun).
Although hints of the chemistry and increasing sexual tension between Spock and Chapel were present throughout season 1, things remained platonic due to Spock’s engagement with T’Pring. As friends, Spock relied on his human friend for relationship advice. For example, in season 1, episode 5, “Spock Amok,” Chapel advises the Vulcan science officer to prioritize spending time with his fiancée despite his busy Starfleet schedule, and in season 1, episode 7, “The Serene Squall,” Spock opens up to the nurse about T’Pring’s interest in his human side and how that makes him feel.
“The Serene Squall” is also the first significant hint that everything isn’t all plomeek soup, redspice, and everything nice between the Vulcan lovers. In the episode, after pirates hijack the Enterprise and take Spock hostage to force a prisoner exchange with a Vulcan criminal rehabilitation center, where T’Pring is an administrator and treatment specialist, Spock fakes an affair with Chapel to stop his wife-to-be from risking her position in Vulcan society to save him. In the name of the ruse, Spock kisses Chapel, causing T’Pring to call off the engagement.
While the kiss itself may not demonstrate cracks in the Vulcan relationship, Chapel and Spock’s weird behavior and sexual tension afterward sure does. This comes to a head in season 2, episode 5, “Charades,” when the status quo of these characters’ love triangle is flipped. In the episode, another species’ interference causes Spock to lose his Vulcan half and become entirely human, leading to lots of hijinks, as Spock is due to participate in a traditional Vulcan engagement dinner/ceremony with T’Pring, her family, and his mother, Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner). Although Spock manages to get through the dinner with his mom’s help, his inability to be honest with his fiancée about his condition causes the couple to take a break.
Upon the dissolution of his relationship with T’Pring, Spock immediately pursues the feelings he has been repressing for Chapel, and their relationship becomes romantic. “We are more than colleagues,” Spock admits to Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) in “Subspace Rhapsody.”
The Spock x Chapel update really changes everything
In “Subspace Rhapsody,” after Spock and Uhura try communicating with the subspace fold using a song from the Great American Songbook, a loosely defined canon of the most important and influential 20th-century American popular songs, jazz standards, and show tunes, Enterprise gets temporarily trapped in a musical reality.” Now, behaving by American musical rules, crewmembers start to sing when their emotions become so heightened that words can’t express them.
Narratively, the episode compares to the landmark musical episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 6, episode 7, “Once More With Feeling,” in which we get storyline-altering revelations via song. As Boimler and Beckett pointed out in season 2, episode 7, “Those Old Scientists,” the SNW characters have drifted away from the versions fans are familiar with from Star Trek canon. This is especially true in Spock, whose feelings for Chapel have led the half-Vulcan to explore his human side in the show’s sophomore season.
However, in “Subspace Rhapsody,” Chapel severs her ties to Spock and claims her independence in the jazz number, “I’m Ready,” seemingly changing the trajectory of their relationship. Following her acceptance at an archeological medicine institute led by Chapel’s future fiancé-to-be, Dr. Roger Korby (Michael Strong (TOS)), Chapel sings, “This news really changes everything.” FYI, this is a big deal: “Subspace Rhapsody” is the first time Korby is mentioned on SNW.
“I worked so hard for this, and now the fellowship sees me as one of their own,” the nurse continues to sing. “It’s freedom, and I like it. If I need to leave you, I won’t fight it.”
After Spock and Chapel have spent the past few episodes in a pseudo-relationship, the musical episode dramatically shifts their dynamics back to what long-time Trekkies are familiar with. Seeing Chapel let loose and cut ties, wrecks Spock, who sings, “I can’t believe how wrong I’ve been, convinced myself we shared the same feelings. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“She is happy and carefree, the opposite of me,” he reflects via song. “I can do the calculus: for her, I set aside my need to analyze. Now, I’m wrecked and searching for why.”
“I’m the X,” Spock concludes about Chapel’s decision not to tell him about her acceptance. “I’ve got no one but myself to blame. I betrayed my core philosophy. Unbending reason must be my true north, lest I drown in this sea of pain. I’m so dysfunctional, weak, and emotional.”
And there we have it, the end of Spock’s emotional growth. In the finale number, “We Are One,” Uhura leads the Enterprise‘s crew in a song that is supposed to bring everyone back together. Although Spock jumps in to support the rest of the crew when Chapel turns to talk to him at the end of the finale number, he gives her the cold shoulder and walks away—a TOS-like interaction, meaningfully occurring with the TOS theme song playing in the background.
Following the breakup, Spock seems poised to become the calm, collected, and emotionless Ambassador Spock. At the end of “Subspace Rhapsody,” he engages in another act of diplomacy over some blood wine.
Chapel gets her freedom, and she likes it
With SNW, the franchise has expanded upon Nurse Chapel’s backstory, flushing out the character’s history as per the wishes of Barrett-Roddenberry, who told Star Trek Magazine in July 2000 that she didn’t care for the character much, saying, “She was a namby-pamby type of woman. First, she was a doctor to start, and to go out and find her fiancé, she had to take a demotion, probably in rank and pay, because there was already a doctor aboard the Enterprise.”
The reason for Barrett-Roddenberry’s harsh assessment of her character: Following the disappearance of Chapel’s fiancé and former archeological medicine advisor, Dr. Roger Korby, on the planet Exo III, she abandons her career as a bio-researcher (for which she earned several degrees) to join Starfleet to find him after not hearing from him in five years. In The Original Series season 1, episode 7, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Chapel succeeds at finding her fiancé. However, Korby isn’t what he used to be; the scientist that Chapel once loved is no longer a man but a golem, living underground with a group of sophisticated androids.
With the reintroduction of Chapel in SNW, the franchise has been steadily working to rewrite the character’s backstory so that she’s defined by more than her romantic relationships (although we have yet to see her act on her bisexual impulses, which some fans argue were established in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”). In the SNW series premiere, it was revealed Chapel was initially asked to join the Enterprise crew under Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) as a scientist working on the civilian exchange from the Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project, not as a member of Starfleet. This expertise gets the crew out of more than one bind (e.g., when Chapel rewrites the genomes of several crew members for an away mission).
From Star Trek canon, we already know that Chapel leaves the Enterprise and earns even more degrees than she currently has, although she comes back to serve as a Starfleet nurse under Captain Kirk’s command. Then, in Star Trek: The Animated Series, still under the command of Kirk, Chapel takes her first step toward becoming a doctor: She is promoted to lieutenant and head nurse in TAS season 1, episode 10, “Mudd’s Passion,” giving her more to do than flirt with Spock. For example, in season 1, episode 4, “The Lorelei Signal,” Chapel even takes over as acting Chief Medical Officer under the acting command of Uhura.
At the same time that “Subspace Rhapsody” destroys the relationship between Spock and Chapel, it’s also a turning point for Chapel and Uhura, who are close throughout Those Old Scientists.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
(Featured Image: Paramount+, NBC)
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Rebecca Kaplan
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