#Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Dreamcatcher

Well, that was not the ending I expected for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 4.

Up until the “we’re-all-stranded-on-a-telepathic-planet-that-wants-to-eat-us” moment, it was a pretty fabulous romp for the fledgling crew.

Of course, leaving Gwyn unguarded is never a good idea, and I don’t think they’ll make that mistake again. IF they get the chance to make it again, that is.

I have to wonder if the creators may feel hampered by the half-hour format they’ve chosen for the show.

Yes, it’s a kids’ show, and a half-hour would, logically, be the longest you’d expect most 7-12-year-olds to be able to sustain their attention, but the narratives the show looks to tell are so much bigger than can be told effectively in thirty minutes.

To be fair, this is a bit of a throwback to the multi-part episodes of my childhood (ahem, #datingmyself) where animated adventures often ended with the dreaded “To Be Continued…” screen.

Disliked those, then. Hate them now.

But it does leave us craving more, doesn’t it?

In any case, the planet they explore is a fascinating creation and an incredibly effective narrative tool.

It is, after all, simultaneously the crew’s novel context, the villain/danger, and the device that foils Gwyn’s attempt to steal the ship.

In a G-rated way, it manages to combine mood elements of the virus of “The Naked Now/Naked Time” and the effects of the alien communication in Tyken’s Rift from “Night Terrors.”

And, for the first time, Dal pays attention to the details and calls the planet’s bluff when it masquerades as Janeway.

Dal: I was told there’s no intelligent life here.

Planet Representative: Life is everywhere. We have the ability to see what you want and give it to you.

It wasn’t a bad example of captain-ing. He’s also a heckuva getaway driver in the Runaway.

Hologram Janeway gets a variety of screentime between setting the crew on their away mission, trying to stop Gwyn, being reprogrammed to serve Gwyn, and having her image commandeered by the planet’s cilium.

I’m trying to wrap my head around the programming that allows her to go along with the cadet ruse while knowing that it is a ruse because that is the impression we’re getting each time she addresses them as cadets.

Also, her description of the Runaway’s grab bars seems distinctly non-standard speech.

Zero: And what is that?

Janeway: The Runaway. Accelerated ion propulsion. Tritanium chasse. Holo-steering. And, my favorite: hold-onto-your-butts grab handles.

As it turns out, it was a pretty spot-on description, though.

Of the fantasies the planet actualizes for the crew, Dal’s is (and is meant to be, I think) the most intriguing. As the not-Janeway hologram states, he yearns to be with his parents even though he has no memory of what they even look like.

The most lol-worthy has to be the manifestation of The Diviner as a warm, loving, proud papa. It’s heartbreaking that Gwyn’s dearest desire is also so entirely at odds with reality that she immediately spots it as a trap.

The others have fantasies that speak to what we’ve already learned about them.

Rok-Tahk wants something to love. And probably to love her back.

Jankom Pog wants something to eat that’s comforting and familiar. He’s looking for a home.

Zero wants something to solve.

The only crew member whose psyche we don’t get to peek into is Murf’s. I want to predict that their deepest desire ends up rescuing them when the action resumes, but that may be too simple a solution.

But then again, it’s Murf. They can activate a weapons array with their butt gel.

Murf also gets to be Gwyn’s redemption here. Seeing him trapped when she’s in the middle of escaping the failing ship is the crucible moment for her moral character.

Janeway: The ship is prepared for takeoff, but as your training advisor, I must remind you. A Starfleet officer never abandons her crew.

Gwyn: They’re not my crew.

Until we see that she did, in fact, rescue Murf, she was on a dark path, demonstrating her dangerous abilities and disdain for the others from Tars Lamora.

A part of her desire to make The Diviner proud is tangled up in the discovery that he’s been training her to fly the Protostar all her life.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 dropped a hint about this when Drednok asks The Diviner about keeping Gwyn in the dark about Starfleet and the Federation.

I’m thirsty for more information on The Diviner and Gwyn’s species, the Vau N’Akat. How did they die out? When did they develop the ability to activate technology telepathically? Why was The Diviner in his chamber at the series start when he can live without it?

All this time, my father taught me starship mechanics, astrophysics, linguistics, information technology, and I never questioned why. He was preparing me for this ship.

Gwyn

Will Gwyn need a chamber one day?

I think I’ve asked it before but was she cloned or genetically created? The Diviner really doesn’t seem like someone who has ever been in a relationship, so I can’t imagine there’s ever been a mother in the picture.

The fact that Drednok only ever refers to her as the “Progeny” also indicates she might’ve been manufactured versus born.

To be sure, Drednok’s a bit of a jerk, so he might do it to mess with her.

So, back to that stunner of an ending.

The ship’s incapacitated by the planet’s vegetative cilium. Everyone who came on it is now on the surface where they are at the mercy of the hallucinogenic spores and the very hungry, telepathic, and nearly omnipresent predatory planet.

Zero: This planet is remarkable! It acts as one super-organism, luring and consuming its prey for nutrients.

Dal: You mean it wants to eat us.

Zero: Eat us? It shows us what we want by fabricating our desires onto its cilium. It’s quite wondrous.

Dal: It’s also trying to eat us!

Oh, and The Diviner and Drednok are on their way.

Whew, things are looking dire. And after this week’s announcement that there’ll only be one more installment before the series takes a hiatus until January, we should expect the next one to be a doozy.

How do you think they’ll get out of this situation? (We know they do since there are FIFTEEN more episodes this season.)

Will Murf be the key?

Will Gwyn and Dal learn to trust each other soon?

Will someone please just give Rok-Tahk a HUG?

Hit our comments with your feels!

Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.