7 Ups & 1 Down From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.1 — Hegemony, Part II

5. UP — Dichotomies Of A Two-Parter

A two-parter is, by definition, a dichotomy, most often rendered as the split between 'to be continued' and '…now the conclusion'. In that gap between set-up and resolution lies the power imbalance inherent to the meaning of 'hegemony'.

Hegemony as a form of dominance, hegemony as the 'Gorn Hegemony,' must reduce the world to a set of dichotomies, or binary oppositions — power/powerless, us/them, civilised/uncivilised and so on — in order to maintain its existence. In Hegemony, the Gorn established a demarcation line — the inside versus April's "outside of our jurisdiction". Pike's "we are prey" in Part II designated the predator.

"Sometimes a monster's just a monster," said Pike in the first half. "Sometimes, hope is a choice."

Rules are made to be broken, or so said Spock. The line between official and unofficial orders, as well as between legal and illegal, is blurred. Inactivity (of the Gorn) is pitted against activity, invasion over salvation, as Hegemony looms over the Federation. 'Punching back' is the solution, though not as simple as turning it on/off. On the bridge, and in sickbay, science cohabits with "a little faith," and 'probabilities of survival' for Captain Batel. Prey becomes pray. The Lord's Prayer is interrupted, but not dismissed.

Aboard the Gorn destroyer, that utilitarian Vulcan proverb, schematised, is 'needs of the many / needs of the few'. By choosing to save everyone, La'an resists and disrupts the binary division, "even if we have to shoot our way out".