Star Trek: SNW Episode 3: Kirk And La'an's Time Together Means More Than It Appears

Time travel is as integral to "Star Trek" as pointy ears and people complaining about the shortage of dilithium crystals — so much so that it's made for some of the franchise's best stories. So it was great to see one of Captain Pike's (Anson Mount) posse turn back the clock in the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." Chief of Enterprise Security, La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), found herself sent back centuries after already stumbling into a one she didn't belong in. The only setback, though, is that in all the starships in all the timelines, James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) had to walk into this one.

After finding herself in a split in time that had Kirk already earning the rank of captain and at the helm of the Enterprise, the two worked together to find a way back and stop some time terrorists while they were at it. Unfortunately, it ended with an accomplished mission, a dead Jim, and La'an carrying a love whose name she literally cannot dare to speak. And it's one that could make a rivalry yet to come to fruition even more volatile if she attempts to reignite her lost love in the next few weeks.

While the James Kirk that La'an Noonien-Singh dragged into her time turmoil didn't live to make it out, La'an's last few moments in the past saw her cross paths with a younger version of someone that would eventually become Jim's sworn enemy. Kept underground and out of sight, La'an met her own descendent, Khan Noonien-Singh, who would grow up to become a feared leader in The Eugenics Wars and, even more notoriously, return to release some wrath on Captain Kirk in the beloved 1982 film, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

With this close encounter occurring between both the originator of her own existence and the man that would eventually kill him, it puts La'an in a stressful position, similar to where Captain Pike found himself in last season's finale. The difference is that the current captain of the Enterprise chose to keep the timeline as it was and accept his fate. That might not be the case for his Security Officer, given how this week's episode ended. La'an could end up following her heart instead of her head and sending "Strange New Worlds" to boldly go where it absolutely shouldn't — twisting the history of "Star Trek" and doing far more harm than good for the man she loved but can't return to.

Currently, by even speaking to the one in her own timeline, she may already be impacting parts of the future an unnamed Temporal Agent said not to. Let's face it, given James Kirk's inevitable assignment to the Enterprise, there's a high chance that the kid from Iowa is going to wander through its halls and meet La'an Noonien-Singh along the way. As a result, there's every possibility that this Kirk could fall for her, just as his alternate one did, and add even more weight to an inevitable battle to the death with Khan in the years to come.

That, of course, is if La'an gives into temptation and tells Kirk the truth about how she knows him, and whether it goes beyond using him as a reference to check up on his brother. It also sets a precedent that more time-twisting antics could present themselves in "Strange New Worlds." And it raises questions about what kind of impact it will have on the crew that will inevitably get a new Captain (sorry, Pike). Could it lead to a moment of bittersweet irony and see La'an follow in the family tradition of causing damage to the galaxy, or might she choose to defy her heritage like she always has and lose out on the happiness she only briefly had? We'll have to wait and see when "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns next week.