Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has long balanced high-concept science fiction with character-driven storytelling, and the ninth episode of its fourth season, «Once La'an a Time,» leans fully into that tradition. The episode revisits the Elysian Kingdom, a storybook realm first introduced in the series' debut season, and places La'an Noonien-Singh at the center of an identity crisis that plays out against a backdrop of medieval castles, doppelgangers, and a planet that defies the laws of physics.
The adventure traces back to the first season's «The Elysian Kingdom,» when Dr. M'Benga's terminally ill daughter, Rukiya, brought her favorite book to life with the help of a Boltzmann brain entity she called Debra. That earlier story kept M'Benga's turmoil hidden, with his daughter stored in the medbay transporter buffer. This time, the focus shifts to La'an, who finds herself confronting a side of her personality she typically keeps hidden from her crewmates. As she puts it, there is a side of her that some fear, and she believes keeping that side away from her friends allows it to protect them, whether they realize it or not.
Captain Pike, ever the emotionally attuned leader, attempts to address the issue directly. He asks whether the crew should talk about their feelings, noting that people are concerned. When he brings up a recent wedding incident, La'an defends herself by pointing out that the Orion dignitary was a spy and that she prevented an intergalactic incident while saving a marriage. Pike counters with the detail that she put the groom's face in his own cake and set the bride's dress on fire. La'an concedes that the chaos began as a dance, offering an apology that lands somewhere between sincerity and deflection.
The episode's humor and heart frequently come from Pelia, the Enterprise's chief engineer, played by Carol Kane. Pelia embraces the impossible from the start. When Spock observes that the planet should not exist, moving through space under its own power in defiance of physics and logic while somehow possessing gravity, breathable air, and signs of life, Pelia compares it to something painted on the side of an ex-boyfriend's van. She later notes that, having lived through the medieval era, she can confirm the planet smells significantly less like manure and death than the real thing.
Pelia also serves as the episode's resident literary reference machine. When Spock invokes Arthur C. Clarke's famous adage that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, Pelia immediately identifies the source and claims she gave Clarke and Kubrick notes on «2001.» She then raises the possibility that Rukiya cast the crew as specific character types based on their deepest desires, thereby revealing their shadow selves. When La'an bristles at the suggestion that her shadow self is a pathetic damsel in distress, Pelia deflects with a reference to Carl Jung.
The episode wears its influences proudly, with multiple nods to «The Princess Bride.» Pelia, introduced as Benny Russell, the author of «The Kingdom of Elysium,» finds herself in gilded servitude to the evil Queen Neve. When the queen demands that she begin with the tale of how she destroys the Iron Dragon, Pelia responds with the iconic line, «As you wish.» She also enjoys the castle's hospitality, declaring that if she is going to die, at least she will die eating the delicious scones, which she credits to a miracle-working chef named Max.
Because Pelia joined the Enterprise after the crew's encounter with Debra, she has no doppelganger in Elysium, leaving everyone else's double free to run amok. The crew takes time to adjust to their twins' personas. Pike observes that Roth really is a coward, prompting King Ridley to note that all who speak in the third person are. Pike then attempts to address the king in kind, only to be corrected on his use of «whomst.»
La'an's Elysian counterpart, Princess Thalia, is known for being fragile and pampered, a characterization that deeply irritates her. When a Crimson Guard recognizes her as the princess and notes that she escaped, La'an insists she means no harm, only to be met with laughter. The moment encapsulates the episode's central tension: La'an's struggle to reconcile the hardened protector she has become with the softer identity the storybook world assigns her.