Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Vox in Excelso

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 4, “Vox in Excelso,” puts Jay-Den Kraag under the spotlight as his past comes back to haunt him. Indisputably, it’s the strongest episode of the season thus far, and it feels the most Star Trek-esque in tone and presentation. The series taps into its potential, giving audiences a glimpse of where it could go from here. The stars are the limit, after all. 

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, “Vox in Excelso” 

Jay-Den has been a fascinating character since the get-go. While he’s not the first Klingon in Starfleet (ahem, Worf), his demeanor is so antithetical to your traditional Klingon. For starters, Jay-Den isn’t interested in being a warrior but in being a medical officer. “Vox in Excelsio” delves into Jay-Den’s backstory as he grapples with the potential extinction of his race in real time. 

It’s not easy to meet family expectations, especially when your brother outshines you in every way. The flashbacks to Krios Prime intriguingly fill in the blanks regarding Jay-Den’s upbringing. And as Captain Ake aptly puts it, our past shapes who we are in the present. It isn’t so much that Jay-Den fears public speaking — he fears stepping into his potential after his father rejected his desire to be a healer. 

To Help or Leave Alone

In true Trek fashion, “Vox in Excelso” deftly examines the pros and cons of helping the Klingon diaspora find a new home. After losing Qo’noS, the Klingons only have their pride and their traditions. As usual, this is a clever dissection of Starfleet and the Federation, namely their penchant for meddling in others’ affairs (Prime Directive notwithstanding). It’s giving colonization and white supremacy, to be sure, and exhibits eerie real-world parallels. 

Autonomy is crucial, which Jay-Den argues for during the debate. The Doctor also returns here to impress the importance of facts over feelings, another profoundly resonant hot topic in our world.

Circling back to Jay-Den, this writer loves the scene with him and Lura Thok. We hadn’t seen them interact yet, and their first scene together doesn’t disappoint. We see how nuanced this discussion is for Lura, who’s half-Klingon, and her potential struggle to balance both her identities. 

Tense Relations

Tensions boil over between Jay-Den and Caleb, who finds a kinship with the former but doesn’t quite understand his struggles. The organic buildup to their explosive argument during the debate is well-executed. Thankfully, their spat is short-lived, and Jay-Den learns to lean on his bestie for support. 

It all leads to Jay-Den’s unique solution to his people’s problem: Starfleet goads the Klingons into fighting a staged battle before conceding. Then, the Klingons “claim” Faan Alpha, a world similar to Qo’noS, as a spoil of war. It’s a clever fix that ensures his people maintain their dignity. 

Karim Diané delivers a layered, compelling performance as Jay-Den. He says so much in a single facial expression. Diané steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the park. As much as I love Caleb, it’s great to shift the focus to the other cadets. 

“Vox in Excelso” plays with character dynamics, particularly Jay-Den with, well, everyone else. We’re still figuring out who everyone is, and that’s part of the fun in starting a new series. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy isn’t perfect, but this outing is miles above what we’ve seen so far, abandoning the cheesy teen drama in favor of a mature depiction of compassion, empathy, courage, and intellect in action. 

It values facts over feelings without completely bowling over Jay-Den’s complicated feelings. This awareness and grace are major green flags, indicating that it has the potential to be a mature, thought-provoking, and emotionally moving entry in franchise canon. 

Stray Observations: 

• USS Riker! My heart. 
• I also love the Star Trek: Voyager and Aaron Satie mentions. These Easter eggs are a damn delight. 
• I feel for Jay-Den. I, too, am terrified of public speaking. 
• Those occasional musical flourishes of the TOS theme song hit just right. 
• “It could not evolve into its present without every moment of its past” is such a banger of a line. 
• We need some flashback sequences to Nahla and Obel Wochak’s romance. For science. 

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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy drops new episodes every Thursday on Paramount+. 

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