Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 8 – “Four-And-A-Half Vulcans”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8 sets up one character’s unexpected exit from the Starship Enterprise. Directed by Jordan Canning and written by Dana Horgan and Henry Alonso Myers, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” is a Vulcan farce that turns Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and some of his crew into Vulcans.
After Pike turns fully Vulcan, the now logical and towering-haired Captain of the Enterprise still fulfills his promise to his girlfriend, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). Marie needs Chris’ help to whip up a gourmet dinner to impress her old boss at Starfleet’s Judiciary division, Vice Admiral Pasalk (Graeme Somerville).
Captain Batel’s dinner turns out as expected: the rudeness of the two Vulcans is more than she can handle, and Marie explodes, kicking them both out of the quarters she shares with Captain Pike. Batel never expected losing her temper would become how she will finally leave the Starship Enterprise.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Sets Up Captain Batel’s Unexpected Exit From The Starship Enterprise
At the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, Captain Batel gets an unexpected transmission. Vice Admiral Pasalk offered Batel his position as Judge Advocate General when he retires because he was impressed with her conviction. A shocked Marie accepted, and Strange New Worlds opened the door to what’s next for the former Captain of the USS Cayuga.
Before surviving her Gorn infection and the destruction of the USS Cayuga, Marie Batel balanced two careers: starship Captain and legal representative for Starfleet’s JAG office. Batel was chosen as Starfleet’s prosecutor during Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley’s (Rebecca Romijn) trial in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 2, “Ad Astra Per Aspera.”
Since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ season 3 premiere, Captain Batel has lived on the USS Enterprise with Pike. Marie receives treatment for her Gorn infection from Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) after Batel chose to become a human-Gorn hybrid to save her life.
However, Captain Batel can’t stay on the Starship Enterprise indefinitely. Marie was offered a commission to command another starship, but decided to resume her legal career instead. Strange New Worlds just gave Captain Batel an exit strategy, and becoming Starfleet’s JAG wasn’t what audiences would have expected.
Captain Batel Can’t Leave Pike’s Enterprise Without Resolving Her Gorn Story
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 only has two episodes left. Presumably, Captain Batel will leave the Starship Enterprise before season 3’s end, although she could also remain aboard since Marie won’t become Starfleet’s new Judge Advocate General until Vice Admiral Pasalk retires.
A more prevalent issue for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 to resolve is what, exactly, Captain Batel is becoming as a Gorn and human hybrid. Batel became unlike herself and displayed superhuman strength and ferocity when she faced the Vezda (Chris Myers) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 5, “Through the Lens of Time.”
How Captain Pike feels about Marie having an exit plan from the Starship Enterprise is also something Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will need to resolve. But after spending all of season 3 aboard Pike’s ship, it’s about time for Captain Batel to move onto her next phase.
