For most of the season, it’s felt likely that Marie’s story would not end happily. Now that it’s over, however, calling it an unhappy ending doesn’t seem quite right. The bittersweetness of “New Life and New Civilizations,” Strange New Worlds’s season-three finale, begins with the first scene, in which the Enterprise prepares to say good-bye to Marie, who’s soon to begin a job as Starfleet’s top JAG official. None, of course, is as touched by her impending departure as Pike, who, as the episode opens, greets her in the transporter room after a week’s absence. Marie’s health problems have had the benefit of allowing them to settle into a cozy domesticity that’s only deepened their feelings for one another. With this arrangement about to end — and with it any surety about her relationship with Pike, though they seem committed to keeping it going despite the distance — a weary Marie wants to disappear into Pike’s quarters and savor the time they have left. Instead, she gets a farewell party.

The others all dress sharp for the occasion, though only Scotty, the victim of a prank, shows up wearing his dress uniform (kilt and all). Everyone’s sorry to see Marie go, but they are also looking forward to seeing her off in style by attending her promotion ceremony and spending a little time on Earth while the Enterprise gets a tune-up. It sounds nice. Of course, it’s not to be.

The first sign of trouble arrives via Christine, who’s awaiting a call from Korby. Korby’s been following a lead inspired by a phrase spoken to Marie by the Vezda, one that’s taken him to the faraway planet of Skygowan, whose largest city bears a similar name to that phrase. There, he tells Christine, he’s found a beautiful, vibrant city that’s under the unfortunate belief that the Vezda are gods and not, as Pelia bluntly put it in an earlier episode, evil demons. Korby’s slowly built the trust of the local clerics, but he’s not sure what he expects them to reveal. He certainly does not expect what he finds. There are ominous signs on the Enterprise as well, where Scotty has picked up some “anomalies” (always a troubling term). As Christine and Scotty discern it’s a human pattern belonging to Ensign Gamble, who we last saw fully possessed by a Vezda spirit, on Skygowan, the high priest turns around to reveal himself to Korby. It’s Gamble. (Or, more accurately, the Vezda in Gamble form.)

When the episode returns from credits, the Enterprise is in full crisis mode, particularly since Korby has gone radio silent after sending off an emergency signal. This can’t be a coincidence, the crew determines, so they head to Skygowan. Those making the journey include Marie, who feels like her connection to the Vezda, whatever that connection is, requires her to tag along. “What’s your gut telling you?” Pike asks. Marie can’t explain it, but when Pike suggests the idea of “destiny,” she’s not quite sure that’s right. Pike, it seems, has also softened on believing in destiny. Without explicitly speaking of the accident he knows (probably) awaits him, he says, “These last few years have changed what I felt life could be.” It’s a shift in perspective he owes almost entirely to Marie.

Because Skygowan is home to a pre-warp civilization, the Enterprise’s landing party has to go incognito as they search for Korby. In the process, they find a culture that’s eerily similar to that of Vadia IX, the world where they first encountered the Vezda threat back in “Through the Lens of Time.” After first distracting and then knocking out the Skygowan guards (with some help of the Vulcan nerve pinch La’an has picked up from Spock), they walk through a portal that’s also eerily similar to what they found on Vadia IX. The ominous signs keep piling up.

So how did Gamble get there anyway? On the Enterprise, Sam throws out the possibility of ley lines, a fringe theory that causes Spock to raise his eyebrows but gets support from Scotty, who suggests they might be a kind of “bus route for interdimensional travel.” In fact, one of these ley lines leads directly from Vadia IX to Skygowan, a discovery that prompts Pelia to say, “Oh dear.” It seems this opens up the possibility of countless Vezda escaping and possessing everything in sight. Oh dear, indeed. Things don’t look much better on Skygowan. After finding Korby, the landing party gets an update on the situation. Vezda Gamble (Gezda? Vamble?) has found a cultish following eager to make Skygowan great again, even if this means gouging out their own eyes to resemble their leader. Once again: oh dear.

Maybe James T. Kirk can help? Kirk lets the Enterprise know that the Farragut is on its way to lend aid. But help being on its way does not solve their immediate problem. What to do? On the surface, Korby and the landing party examine a monolith covered in writing from across the galaxy, including a passage in Swahili that tells a portion of M’Benga’s origin story, specifically the first instance in which he had to kill to defend himself. “Do you believe in destiny?” the doctor asks, still guilt-ridden about the role he had in bringing the Vezda to Ensign Gamble. Before anyone can answer, the monolith opens and Gamble forces M’Benga inside. It turns out that this has all been part of Gamble’s plan to remove the Behloder, that statue preventing his fellow Vezda (Vezdans?) from zapping across the cosmos and into the bodies of the Skygowans. It’s all working out just fine, as far as Gamble is concerned. “Thank you,” he says.

However, it seems that Marie might throw a wrench into the works, even if Gamble has no way of knowing this. As Gamble sets about destroying the Beholder, Marie is struck with a killer headache and then begins to experience changes. Specifically, her eyes turn into a cosmic light show. As this effect fades, Christine discovers that Marie doesn’t just have a connection with the Beholder statue; she is the Beholder statue.

What’s going on? Marie has a theory. What if the Vezda really are evil itself and that all the medical treatment she’s received combines the defense technology of different races that have fought against evil over the years? It, frankly, sounds far-fetched, but Marie and the others put a scientific(-ish) spin on the situation that Spock sums up neatly when he says, “If the Vezda are an evil that predates all our known races, it’s possible that all races that came later might hold some genetic memory of how to combat them.” And now Marie’s become some kind of storehouse of Vezda repellants. And the issue of the Beholder being ancient, but also somehow also Marie? Remember how cause and effect got reversed on Vadia IX? It’s like that. Maybe destiny does exist, and this is hers.

But first, Marie needs to face Gamble, which Pike will not let her do alone. After beaming down to Skygowan, they find the portal closed. And with M’Benga and Gamble nowhere to be found they have to concoct a Plan B to force it open. That’s going to take power. A lot of power, something akin to the power of the Earth’s sun, by Pelia’s reckoning. Two starships might do it, but it will be tricky. When Kirk arrives, Erica and Spock run the plan by them. It’s going to require two pilots working perfectly in sync.

When asked what Kirk thinks of the Vulcan mind meld, Kirk replies, “I’m not big on intimacy without someone knowing every single one of my thoughts,” before fully realizing what Spock is proposing. But, despite Kirk’s reluctance, he agrees, and after blowing everyone away with their perfect synchronization, the Kirk/Spock team pries open the portal.

Inside, Pike and Maire find themselves on Vadia IX, where they’re greeted by M’Begna, whom they’re happy to see, and Gamble, whom they are not. Gamble sets about attacking Marie via the Beholder statue (and Pike via a more traditional route). Marie responds by squaring off against Gamble. Her hands start to glow. And then … she’s being wished a happy anniversary by Pike in the middle of a lovely home they share on Earth? “We made it,” they tell each other, then kiss.

What happens next looks both strange and familiar. The scenes that unfold in the wake of their confrontation with Gamble both happen and don’t as Pike and Marie live a whole life together. Pike’s been down a similar, if less pleasant, path back in the first-season finale, which found him living a future made possible by attempting to prevent the accident destined to maim him. But what follows also recalls “The Inner Light,” one of the most beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. And The Last Temptation of Christ. And, undoubtedly, plenty of other predecessors.

The familiarity doesn’t make it any less affecting, however. It’s pretty obvious from the start that we’re witnessing a life Pike and Marie will never get to live together, which makes the loveliness of their marriage feel wrenching even before the episode reaches that union’s end. “This is a life worth risking everything for,” Marie says, and it’s hard not to agree. But even here, the sense that fate waits to split them up remains close at hand. Pike can’t shirk his promise to train cadets at the Academy. “I have to do the things I have to do,” Pike tells Marie, who reminds him of their promise to enjoy their time together, however short that might be.

But Pike’s seemingly inescapable fate doesn’t stop them from adopting a puppy or having a child. And when, somehow, Pike seemingly avoids the accident, they press on. Their daughter grows up and marries Admiral April’s son. They grow old. Marie takes ill. “This lifetime was a gift,” she tells Pike as she starts to fade away. “Now we both know it’s time.” Each leap forward in time has been preceded by a knock at their door. But they can’t ignore this final knock. When Pike opens the door he sees Gamble there and, with a flash, they’re back on Vadia IX. It seems at first as if they’re too late. Then Marie makes the sacrifice she’s known she’d have to make from the start and becomes the Beholder.

As the episode draws to a close, Christine and Korby say good-bye. Skygowan and all its history is too great an allure to resist, in spite of the feelings he and Christine share. In the lounge, Kirk and Spock play chess and vow to remain friends. Well, “vow” is not quite the right word. Spock says it declaratively, knowing it to be true. When Spock says it’s possible that they might someday serve on the same ship he sounds almost hopeful. Still, there’s a bit of tension when La’an shows up to ask Spock to join her for dance rehearsal. She still has feelings for Kirk, or at least the Kirk she got to know. And now, thanks to the mind meld, this Kirk knows details about her life he probably shouldn’t. (It feels a bit like the series is making sure this sort-of love triangle isn’t forgotten ahead of the next season.)

As for Pike, he’s not ready to talk about what happened, even with Una. But he can discuss it indirectly via a voiceover accompanying images of the Enterprise crew enjoying each others’ company. “Maybe memory is as real as the present and no one we have ever loved is truly gone,” Pike says, a suggestion that’s both poignant and grounded in the principles underlying recent events. All they can really do is press forward. When he takes the bridge, the crew greets him with the news that Korby has gifted them a map to undiscovered sectors and that Erica has a “promising M-class planet” in her sights. “Is this a ‘Hit it’ situation?” Una asks. With that, they’re off to parts unknown.

And with that, another season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds comes to an end. And with it so does a long-running storyline. Marie has been a part of Pike’s life, and the series, since the start. She was the one responsible for getting him back out among the stars, and though distance made their relationship an on-off thing for a time, it’s been very much in the “on” phase this season (and, most of season two, for that matter). Who is Pike without Marie? That remains unclear at the end of the episode, but it’s likely he won’t be quite the same. How could it be?

Other threads remain open. There’s the La’an/Spock/Kirk situation and the related La’an/Christine/Spock/Korby entanglement. Erica seems to be on the other side of her Gorn-related PTSD, but it seems like her relationship with the Gorn, now that she’s gotten to know one, remains unresolved. Doug’s out there somewhere waiting to reunite with Una. And are Uhura and Beto still sort of a thing? Maybe we’ll find out. Or maybe, now that the Enterprise is heading to new and unexplored reaches of space, all that’s out the window now. We’ll see when Strange New Worlds returns for a fourth and, after that, a sadly abbreviated fifth season. Until then, be selective about who you mind-meld with and beware of overly accommodating wedding planners.

Hit It!

• These recaps have used “Hit It!” as the header for their stray observations since the start, but it was starting to feel inappropriate. Pike didn’t use “Hit it!” once in season three. He doesn’t use it in this episode either, but at least it gets talked about.

• Ley lines are, unless I’m mistaken, a new concept in Star Trek. Traditionally, they refer to supposedly meaningful connections between archeological sites, a pseudoscientific (or, let’s say, not widely accepted) theory that this episode is taking to the stars. Like much of the Vezda storyline, it feels somewhat outside the realm of science usually explored by Star Trek, although the episode makes it all sound reasonable enough if you don’t think about it too hard.

• This episode was written by Dana Horgan and Davy Perez, veterans of the series who’ve never shared a script credit before, and directed by Maja Vrvilo. Vrvilo also helmed “Hegemony,” which concluded the second season.

• La’an and Christine both seem pretty cool together most of the time. It would be kind of a drag if they weren’t, but Christine’s jealousy at La’an’s ability to learn the Vulcan nerve pinch was still a fun moment.

• The most shocking image in this episode? Never mind the eye-gouging, it’s the older Pike’s relaxed hairdo.

 As the Enterprise bids farewell to a respected colleague, the crew gains new insights into their relationships with one another.