Star Trek S04E02 - "The Griffin Incident" is a five-star Triumph of Terror

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode: "The Griffin Incident" ★★★★★

There is a long, storied tradition of science fiction dabbling in the macabre, stretching back to the gothic architecture of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Yet, contemporary television rarely manages to fuse the immutable optimism of Gene Roddenberry’s universe with unadulterated psychological horror. With "The Griffin Incident," Strange New Worlds achieves this rare alchemy, delivering an installment that is as intellectually probing as it is spine-chilling.

The narrative premise is deceptively classical: Officers Kirk, Spock, and La’an board the U.S.S. Griffin, a Federation starship long presumed lost to the void. What follows is a masterclass in spatial tension. Rather than relying on fleeting shocks, the production design and direction construct an uneasy, atmospheric suffocation that evokes the finest traditions of cinematic ghost stories. The derelict vessel functions not merely as a set piece, but as a living, malevolent entity that slowly tightens its grip around the investigators.

What elevates the episode above standard genre pastiche is its commitment to character-driven horror. As the trio becomes fractured within the ship's labyrinthine corridors, the Griffin ceases to be a physical threat and instead mutates into a mirror for their deepest internal fractures.

• Ethan Peck’s Spock navigates the harrowing chasms of his dual heritage.

• Paul Wesley’s Kirk confronts haunting familial ghosts of abandonment and legacy.

• Christina Chong portrays La’an’s near-total psychological erosion with a ferocious, unsettling intensity.

The script treats these manifestations not as arbitrary specters, but as externalized traumas, making the horror both intimate and devastating.

The artistic success of the hour rests squarely upon its principal cast, who anchor the high-concept terror with remarkably grounded performances. Chong, in particular, delivers career-best work, charting a harrowing descent as La’an grapples with the violent impulses of her ancestral lineage. The chemistry between the leads amplifies the stakes, ensuring that the audience feels every ounce of their psychological destabilization.

"The Griffin Incident" is a thrilling, dark ride that proves space can still be deeply terrifying. An easy 5 stars!

Footnote:

Despite its utopian premise, Star Trek has a long, proud tradition of dipping its toes into macabre, spine-chilling territory. Over the decades, various series have successfully experimented with psychological horror, body horror, and haunted-house tropes. These are all worth checking out.

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation — "Schisms" (Season 6, Episode 5)

The Crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D begin experiencing severe sleep deprivation and strange, disjointed memories. Through an unsettling investigation, they realize they are being quietly abducted in their sleep by unseen entities and subjected to bizarre medical experiments. The scene where they recreate the cold, sterile alien operating table in the holodeck is pure, creeping dread.

2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — "All Those Who Wander" (Season 1, Episode 9)

If you liked the survival-horror tone of "The Griffin Incident," this is its direct predecessor in Strange New Worlds. An away team investigates a crashed ship, only to discover that dangerous, parasitic alien creatures have hatched and are hunting the crew one by one in a brutal, blood-pacing snowstorm.

3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — "Empok Nor" (Season 5, Episode 24)

Chief O'Brien leads an away team to scavenge parts from DS9’s dangerous sister station, Empok Nor, only to find themselves hunted by genetically enhanced, drug-addled former soldiers who treat the station like a maze. It plays out exactly like a classic 1980s slasher movie, complete with silent stalkers and brutal traps.

4. Star Trek: Voyager — "The Thaw" (Season 2, Episode 23)

The USS Voyager rescues a handful of survivors trapped in a malfunctioning computer simulation, only to discover that the manifestation of Fear has become a sentient, sadistic clown (brilliantly played by Michael McKean). It taps directly into surreal, Stephen King-esque psychological horror, using fear itself as a weapon.

5. Star Trek: Enterprise — "Impulse" (Season 2, Episode 4)

The USS Enterprise NX-01 crew boards a derelict Vulcan ship drifting in a dangerous asteroid field. They quickly discover that the surviving Vulcans have been driven completely insane by neurological damage, turning them into feral, sprinting, mindless ghouls who lurk in the flickering shadows of the ship.

6. Star Trek: The Next Generation — "Frame of Mind" (Season 6, Episode 21)

Commander William Riker participates in an alien play, but slowly begins to lose his grip on reality, finding himself slipping back and forth between a harrowing psychiatric asylum and his life on the Enterprise. It is a deeply unsettling exploration of gaslighting and the terrifying unreliability of one's own mind.