Section 31 starts with Star Trek’s most shocking scene and it’s not even close
Paramount+Star Trek: Section 31 is a new TV movie that kicks off with the most disturbing scene in the history of the franchise.
Star Trek is a series of shows and movies about collaboration, optimism, and altruism. But along the way some dark stuff goes down, from the transporter accident in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Picard turning Borg in The Next Generation to the Ceti eel burrowing into Chekov’s brain in Wrath of Khan.
A new TV movie has just dropped on Paramount+ that’s titled Star Trek: Section 31, and finds Michelle’s Yeoh’s Emperor Giorgiou teaming up with a group of Starfleet misfits to embark on a dangerous mission.
It’s an entertaining caper that plays like a sci-fi Mission: Impossible. But proceedings kick off with a sequence as distressing as anything in Star Trek history.
Philipps Giorgeou is a monster in Star Trek: Section 31
Early in Star Trek: Section 31 we encounter young Philippa Giorgeou (Miku Martineau), who is competing to become Emperor of the Terran Empire.
To achieve her dream, however, she must win a contest against best friend San (James Huang), for whom she clearly has feelings; affection that’s also obviously mutual. But only one can be Emperor.
During the competition, she visits her family, who are overjoyed to see their girl. They break bread together, but while they are catching up, everyone starts coughing and spluttering and hitting the deck. Everyone but Philippa, that is, who sits and watches as her family die in agony.
This was the final task. To be Emperor, one can only be loyal to duty, and must therefore kill those closest. Philippa and San were both told to wipe out their families, but only Philippa could do the deed, making her Emperor, turning San into her servant, and kicking off Giorgeou’s despotic career in the darkest fashion.
Paramount+It’s a shocking way to start the film, but then Section 31 becomes about Giorgeou finding her way back from that terrible place.
“This journey for her is really about redemption and do we really get a second chance?” explained Michelle Yeoh in a recent Q&A. “And when you are given a second chance, can you really take it? Can you forgive yourself? Forget about other people forgiving you, can you take that step into saying ‘I deserve to be forgiven, I deserve a second chance, and I can do better.’”
Star Trek: Section 31 is now streaming on Paramount+. For more space-age action, here’s our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time, details of the Star Trek timeline, plus every Star Trek show ranked from worst to best.