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Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Episodes 15 & 16 “Ascension, Parts I and II” Review: From Peace to Peril

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Episodes 15 & 16 "Ascension, Parts I and II" Review: From Peace to Peril
Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix

“Ascension, Part I”

With the crew of the Protostar reunited with Voyager and Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), things are going pretty smoothly for our heroes. While they know they still need to get the Protostar back to Tars Lamora so their timeline is repaired, our protagonists have a chance to breathe and take stock of their successful mission to retrieve the Protostar and Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran).

 Zero (Angus Imrie) is dealing with an aging body, but the Doctor (Robert Picardo) and Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas) hint at building an artificial body; Janeway and Chakotay are basking in each other’s company, which has professional and personal comforts; Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) is back to training with her fellow Nova Squadron flyers, and, after seeing his performance in the field, she even invites Dal to train with the group; and the Living Construct at the heart of the Protostar is disabled for good. But of course, this reprieve doesn’t last long.

On the heels of Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) alerting a reluctant Janeway that Voyager is being pulled off the Protostar mission in lieu of Starfleet’s Department of Temporal Investigations taking over, Voyager is hailed by an unexpected source: Ilthuran (John Noble), Gwyn’s father. We last saw Ilthuran way back in “Into the Breach, Part II,” where he unwillingly watched Solum start to transform under the martial leadership of Asencia (Jameela Jamil).

Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix

In “Ascension, Part I,” Ilthuran hails from Solum to warn Voyager of Asencia’s power, including her inexplicable ability to harness temporal technology to help quickly produce weapons, but it’s too late: his hail is cut off as Ascenia makes her presence known to our protagonists. In short order, the Rev-1, the massive ship commanded by the Diviner in season one, arrives to confront Voyager and the Protostar. The Rev-1 wastes no time in attacking our heroes, and Voyager is quickly caught in an energy-draining weapon while torpedoes assault the Protostar.

With multiple ships at their disposal, our protagonists find themselves in different locations as the battle against the Rev-1 begins. Chakotay, Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Jankom, Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), and Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) board the Protostar, while Dal (Brett Gray) replaces an injured member of Nova Squad, thus joining Maj’el’s small fighter group.

The Rev-1 possesses weaponry that proves no match for any of our hero ships; with no Starfleet reinforcements to back them up, the situation is dire. Despite a well-coordinated quantum torpedo attack from the two Starfleet vessels and their fighter support craft, the Rev-1 is just too powerful for the Starfleet ships, which end up disabled at the end of the episode. Things get worse for our heroes as we learn Asencia has an ace up her sleeve, someone who is unwillingly helping her attack her enemies: Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Thus, part one of this duology ends with little hope for our heroes as they face a warship much bigger and more powerful than their hindered flotilla.

Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix

Stray Thoughts:

  • Janeway and Chakotay reference at length the events of Voyager’s series finale, “Endgame,” when a future version of Janeway helps her past self-complete the final leg of Voyager’s trip home from the Delta Quadrant.

  • Admiral Jellico explains how Starfleet is stretched thin thanks to the Romulan supernova evacuation, the complexities of A500-model androids (as seen in season one of Star Trek: Picard), and the aftermath of the Living Construct wreaking havoc in Prodigy’s season one finale.

  • Jankom’s mention of a theoretical Special Rogue Misfit Division at Starfleet Command sounds like a spin-off idea if we ever heard one.

  • Did anyone else get Star Trek (2009) Narada-versus-Kelvin vibes when the Rev-1 arrived on the battle scene?

  • The presence of fighter craft in an engagement is uncommon in Star Trek. Indeed, Deep Space Nine and, more recently, Discovery, are the only shows that have seen fighters used as support roles in starship engagements. If you played Shattered Universe back in the day, the presence of Maj’el’s fighter group in “Ascension, Part I” might have left you longing for fighter-based Star Trek combat. Check out our 2021 retrospective on that memorable but flawed PS2 game.

  • Jankom references a dikironium cloud creature, which is the memorable non-corporeal lifeform from The Original Series’ “Obsession.”

“Ascension, Part II”

In part two of this action-packed duology, Asencia continues her assault on the Voyager and Protostar, using, somehow, a captured Wesley Crusher to gain an advantage. Dead in the water, Voyager falls victim to drone attacks that aim to pick the ship apart piece by piece; it’s only when Chakotay and the crew of the Protostar opt to stay by Admiral Janeway’s side and defend against the Rev-1 instead of protecting the Protostar that Voyager has a fighting chance.

Asencia uses Wesley to gain insight into what might happen if she were to launch a new weapon – an Incursor – against Voyager, and Wesley shows her Voyager crumbling under the might of this new weapon. This excites Asencia, so she launches the spear-like projectile right into Voyager’s hull; Janeway’s ship is soon punctured like a speared whale. The Protostar doesn’t fare much better, as it’s now caught in the Rev-1’s energy-draining weapon.  

Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix

It’s clear the torpedo ages things caught into its ever-expanding temporal field – poor Commander Tysess (Daveed Diggs) finds this out firsthand. There’s not much Janeway’s organic crew can do against the weapon, so it falls upon an inorganic crewmember, Zero, to work with their friends on the Protostar to dislodge the torpedo from Voyager’s hull and make it track another Starfleet target.

The effort costs Zero dearly, as their already-damaged body ages rapidly, but lasts just long enough to succeed in their mission. The torpedo’s new target ends up being Maj’el’s fighter. As Zero sacrifices their aged body to manipulate the torpedo’s controls, the weapon is freed from Voyager and on its way toward Nova Squadron, which itself is on its way toward the Rev-1.

“Circles? You’re going to have to do better than that, Maj’el. Show me some whack-a-doo moves.”

“Whack-a-doo it is.”

– Dal to Maj’el as they figure out a way to destroy the attacking fighters.

Maj’el and her squadron, which, remember, includes Dal, have a new mission besides luring the Rev-1’s fighters away from the bigger Starfleet ships: lead the Incursor right back into the enemy behemoth. Maj’el realizes that this assignment may very well be why Wesley said she plays an integral role in helping her crewmates repair the timeline.

Only the keen flying of the Nova Squadron and their successful Boothbay Supernova maneuver – undoubtedly named after the groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy – is enough to lead the torpedo back to its source, quickly vaporizing the massive Rev-1 and climatically ending the threat to the Protostar and Voyager.

Zero’s body is aged into oblivion after reprogramming the torpedo – fairly weighty stuff for a show aimed at kids, yeah? Luckily Jankom Pog was already working on an artificial body for the Medusan even amid the battle. This new body mimics Zero’s old, globular self, but with key upgrades: namely, a sensory input suite that allows Zero to “feel,” just as they were becoming accustomed to in their recently destroyed body.

Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix

It’s a touching reveal that is marked by another poignant moment: a short speech from Admiral Janeway about the day being saved by many small acts of bravery from her crew; together, these acts preserved both Starfleet ships and saved countless lives. Voyager’s mission as ordained by Starfleet Command now is clear: Proceed to Solum to deal with Asencia.

Back at Solum where she was tracking the battle, Asencia recoils at the loss of the Rev-1, but revels in the fact that Starfleet is spread too thinly to help Voyager and Protostar for “what comes next.” She also realizes Wesley purposefully showed her a different outcome than the one she wanted to see – good news for our heroes, but bad news for Wesley. How Asencia came to capture the Traveler is a prominent question hopefully be answered soon.

Stray Thoughts:

  • It’s only after the Protostar rejoins the fight against the Rev-1 that Janeway orders her crew to battle stations. Were they not at those stations before?

  • There appear to be Bynar crewmembers aboard Voyager.

A Threat Reawakened

Together, “Ascension, Parts I and II” are action-heavy episodes that force Asencia back into the spotlight in an explosive way. Whereas Starfleet was apt to let the Department of Temporal Investigations take over Voyager’s mission to restore the timeline, that solution has gone out of the airlock as war between Solum and the Federation seems imminent. Seeing the Voyager and Protostar join forces in the battle against the familiar and always-frightening Rev-1 had us on the edge of our seats; this battle really must have worked this show’s animators hard.

Beyond the results of this destructive opening volley, key character moments came into play in rewarding ways. The prophecy Wesley proclaimed for Maj’el seems to have run its course, although we won’t be surprised if the Vulcan still has an important role to play in restoring the timeline. Relatedly, Dal stepped up in a big way for his crew, opting to join Maj’el on the frontlines of the battle with Rev-1; this must have been painful for him considering the two things he cares about most, Gwyn and the Protostar, were out of his reach.

Meanwhile, Zero, with help from their friend, Jankom, transitioned from their given body to one that feels, if not more homey, then at least reflective of the Medusan’s urge for physical interaction. Zero’s journey in this season is a charming progression and serves as a catalyst for a remarkably progressive and quintessential Star Trek-esque lesson about adapting to a person’s chosen self even if it seems unusual to others. It’s a great lesson to teach young viewers.

We are eager to see what’s sure to be a dramatic confrontation at Solum. Prodigy has proven it can do set-piece action and intimate character moments equally well, so the final episodes of this season should be entertaining, poignant, and spectacular.

The entire first and second seasons of Star Trek: Prodigy are now available to stream on Netflix.

The Star Trek: Prodigy voice cast includes Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Kathryn Janeway), Brett Gray (Dal), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok) in addition to recurring voice cast members: Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Ronny Cox (Admiral Jellico) and Michaela Dietz (Maj’el). 


Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and more.

Written By

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93.

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