Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3I’m enjoying Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh’s (Christina Chong) love story with Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, but what happened to La’an’s romance with Lt. Commander James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley)? La’an and Kirk shared a flirtation in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, but season 3 unexpectedly paired La’an with the Vulcan Science Officer.
La’an fell for an alternate reality Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” That version of Kirk was murdered, scarring La’an after spending time with James made her want to open herself up and live more freely.
As Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 continued, La’an met Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley), the Prime Universe counterpart of the James she lost. Although they were different Kirks, La’an still felt an attraction to Prime James, and the First Officer of the USS Farragut expressed the feeling was mutual.
Audiences, along with Christina Chong and Paul Wesley, expected Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 to pick up where La’an and Kirk left off. To everyone’s surprise, Strange New Worlds rather suddenly paired La’an with Spock. While I really enjoy “La’ock” and I think their coupling is logical, I do still wish Kirk and La’an could have continued.
Why Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Reversed Course On Kirk & La’an’s Romance
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 swapping Spock for Kirk as La’an’s love interest can’t help but be disappointing, considering what was built up between James and La’an throughout season 2. The chemistry between Christina Chong and Paul Wesley was palpable. Kirk had an amusing habit of teasing and disarming the tightly-wound La’an with his roguish charm.
Paul Wesley is billed as a Special Guest Star in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, but his appearances are still limited by not being a series regular. It makes production sense for La’an to have a love interest who was also part of Strange New Worlds’ regular cast. From a writing standpoint, it limits Kirk’s already frequent visits to the USS Enterprise, which always need to be justified.
In-universe, however, it’s inescapable that Lt. Commander James Kirk isn’t the Captain Kirk La’an fell in love with. Prime Kirk looks and acts similar in most respects, but La’an fundamentally knows he is a different James, despite their mutual attraction. Still, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 touched upon what could have been between Kirk and La’an.
Lt. Commander Kirk and Lt. Noonien-Singh exchanged an awkward greeting that betrayed their sparks in Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.” Kirk specifically wanted to have a drink with La’an in Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans.” There’s still electricity between them.
Spock & La’an Makes Sense As A Couple On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
As surprising as Spock and La’an bonding over dancing is in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, there’s logic to their romance. Spock was previously involved with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) in Strange New Worlds season 2, but Chapel dumped the Vulcan to begin her canonical romance with Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan).
However, when Chapel was a Vulcan in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,” she aptly summed up Spock and La’an: “Occasionally, two broken pieces fit together in the right way.” Both La’an and Spock project a controlled and efficient outer persona while hiding their individual shame and trauma.
La’an has spent her lifetime coping with her survivor’s guilt from her childhood Gorn abduction and her shame of her supervillain ancestor, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban). Spock is a half-human and half-Vulcan who has endured cruelty and discrimination from other Vulcans since his youth, and he doesn’t fit into either of his hereditary worlds.
However, through dance, Spock and La’an found a way to express their inner selves to each other. Dancing became their common language, and their private form of intimacy. Christina Chong’s chemistry with Ethan Peck, while different from what she shares with Paul Wesley, is no less dynamic and smoldering.
Kirk Couldn’t Be With La’an (But That Isn’t Stopping Spock)
Ultimately, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds understands that Lt. Commander James T. Kirk can’t be with Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh. James confessed to La’an that he couldn’t pursue their attraction because he is already in a “complicated” relationship with a woman named Carol, who is pregnant.
This has to be Dr. Carol Marcus, who is played by Bibi Besch and is the mother of Kirk’s son. David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
One would think that there is also the issue of preserving Star Trek: The Original Series canon since Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is destined to meet and become blood enemies with La’an’s ancestor, Khan. However, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seems more concerned with adding heretofore unrevealed context to Kirk’s animosity towards Khan.
Logic would suggest Spock should also not romance La’an given his role in Khan’s arrival aboard the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Space Seed.” Yet Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is going warp speed ahead with Spock and La’an as a couple. La’an and Spock are undeniably sexy together, but I still wish La’an and James T. Kirk could have continued their dance instead.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
9/10
- Release Date
-
May 5, 2022
- Network
-
Paramount+
- Showrunner
-
Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
- Directors
-
Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman
- Writers
-
Onitra Johnson