Strange New Worlds Just Told A Perfect Joke About Breaking Star Trek Canon
Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) are genetically altered into Vulcans, along with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). Pike and La'an, however, pose different dangers to the Starship Enterprise in "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans."
As a Vulcan, Captain Pike's logical efficiency becomes an ordeal for the USS Enterprise's crew, and his girlfriend, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). Meanwhile, La'an's Vulcan DNA unleashes her innate Augment genetics, and she becomes diabolical like her ancestor, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban).
When Captain Pike and La'an encounter each other, however, the two Vulcans commiserate about "certain elements of Vulcan history," which lets Star Trek: Strange New Worlds hilariously touch upon their mutual secret that both of them know more about Romulans than they can say.
Captain Pike & La'an's Star Trek Romulan Canon Breaking Joke Explained
Both La'an and Pike's hidden tales involve time travel, and the two Vulcans hilariously blurted out "Romulans!", joined by simultaneous raised eyebrows. Starfleet knows about the existence of Romulans in Star Trek's 23rd century. Star Trek: The Original Series established that the Earth-Romulan War was fought in the 22nd century with "primitive atomic weapons."
Technically, no human is supposed to have seen what a Romulan looks like until Star Trek: The Original Series season 1's classic episode, "Balance of Terror." Over 5 years after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise will see a Romulan Commander (Mark Lenard) for the first time, and learn they are offshoots of Vulcans.
Star Trek: Enterprise season 5, if it happened, planned to lay the groundwork for the Earth-Romulan War and reveal that Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) was half-Romulan.
Star Trek: Enterprise danced around Star Trek: The Original Series' "no human has seen a Romulan" canon. In the 22nd-century prequel to TOS, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) learned about the existence of Romulans. Todd Stashwick also played a Romulan deep cover operative named Talok who posed as a Vulcan in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4.
How Captain Pike Broke Star Trek Romulan Canon
Captain Christopher Pike learned the truth about Romulans in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1's finale, "A Quality of Mercy." In Strange New Worlds' remake of Star Trek: The Original Series' "Balance of Terror," Pike was brought to an alternate future by his doppelganger, where Chris was never disfigured and remained Captain of the Enterprise.
It was Captain Pike, with the help of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) of the USS Farragut, who faced a new Romulan Bird-of-Prey, which was armed with a devastating plasma weapon and a cloaking device. The outcome of Pike's version of "Balance of Terror" was very different from Captain Kirk's reality in TOS, but Pike also saw the true face of his Romulan opponent.
Captain Pike kept his secret that he knows what the Romulans look like ever since, as part of an overall redaction of his experience in the alternate reality future where the United Federation of Planets was mired in a forever war with the Romulans.
How La'an Broke Star Trek Romulan Canon
La'an and Captain Kirk track a series of terrorist attacks on Toronto, and learn they are acts of Temporal War by a Romulan operative named Sera (Adelaide Kane). Sera is forced to pivot her plans and tries to murder Khan Noonien Singh (Desmond Sivan), who is just a child in 21st-century Toronto. Although La'an saves Khan, Sera murders Kirk. La'an exacts revenge by killing the Romulan.
With the timeline restored and La'an back aboard the Starship Enterprise, she is ordered by Starfleet's Temporal Investigations to never reveal anything about her mission in 21st-century Toronto. Although La'an broke that promise and gave some details to Lieutenant James T. Kirk during Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode, the Enterprise's Security Chief kept her word about Romulans.
Both Captain Pike and Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh know the truth about what Romulans look like in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, they are honor-bound to keep it a secret - unless they are Vulcans temporarily blurting their shared knowledge to each other in "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans'" clever joke.
‘Bachelor in Paradise’s Kat Denies Sean’s Claim That She Had a Secret Boyfriend During Filming
Kat Izzo and Dale Moss came in third place during the Bachelor in Paradise season 10 finale, failing to win the $500,000 cash prize. What they did get, however, was a very dramatic finale storyline courtesy of Sean McLaughlin, who came back to Costa Rica to accuse Kat of having a secret boyfriend before Bachelor in Paradise.
“When we came to Bachelor in Paradise, Kat’s plan was never to find love,” Sean told the group in the finale. “She actually stashed a laptop and started texting him love letters. You said that this was going to be something for your career and you’re here to stir up drama,” he continued. “I have the receipts.”
At the time, Kat was too upset to confront him, but now that it’s been a few weeks, she is ready to speak her truth, starting with an appearance on The Viall Files. Speaking to Nick Viall, Kat enthusiastically denied entering Bachelor in Paradise with a secret boyfriend. “I did not come in with a boyfriend. I definitely did leave with one. So, that’s point blank period there,” Kat said.
Of course, Nick wasn’t going to let her get away with that answer. He pressed her on the origin of the rumor and got her to admit that she was seeing someone before she went on the show. “Was I dating before Paradise? Of course, I wasn’t gonna stop my life,” she admitted, adding, “And I was seeing my ex at the time a little bit.” Still, she insisted, “That did not mean that I was coming in with this idea that I was going to, you know, fake it and then leave.”
Kat didn’t elaborate too much on this relationship with her ex, but she did say that she didn’t feel that they were serious enough for her to have a conversation with him before leaving to do the show.
As for the alleged “love letters” Sean claimed she sent her ex while on the show, Kat said she did not have access to any electronics—including an iPad, laptop, or phone—while filming. So what are these “receipts” Sean was claiming to have? Our guess is as good as hers.
“Based on what I’ve been told, there are no actual receipts,” Kat told Nick on the podcast. “I have receipts from my therapist though. She said she’d release my clinical notes to prove that I didn’t have a boyfriend.”
Hopefully some of these receipts will make an appearance at the Bachelor in Paradise season 10 reunion, which (per Kat’s Instagram) is filming today.
See ya there!
