8 Ups & 1 Down From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.2 — Wedding Bell Blues

2. UP — Twist In The Tale

After her terrifying brush with death in Hegemony, Part II, things started off well for Ortegas in Wedding Bell Blues, back on her feet and boxing her little brother Beto (aka "the Haymaker"). Outwardly, she was in good spirits, making jokes about the mounting flirtations between Beto and Uhura. From the beginning, however, there were indications that, deep down, she was struggling.

When Beto began using his camera drone to film the sparring match on the Enterprise, Ortegas' reaction was more than just the 'get that thing out of my face' that us slightly older folk can sometimes feel. She was evidently affected by the camera's presence on a more profound level, punching it so hard it nearly wound up filming the next centennial.

At the episode's end, Ortegas makes manifest her trauma into the punching bag, having left the party early in no mood to dance. Moving to the window, she sees a Gorn in the reflection, but there is no Gorn behind her in the room. A hallucination, perhaps? Only further episodes will tell. It was certainly a dramatic twist to an otherwise comedic tale.