Overview

• Paramount+ released Season 3, Episode 8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,” on Aug. 28 as Strange New Worlds’ latest comedic installment.
• To aid the pre-warp world Tezaar without breaching protocol, Pike, Uhura, Chapel, and La’an use gene therapy introduced in Season 2’s “Charades” to present as Vulcans.
• Complications from the procedure linger on and reshape behavior, foregrounding identity, bodily autonomy, and the logic-versus-emotion divide.
• The episode leans into franchise continuity with nods to Vulcan–Romulan kinship and previous time-twist encounters, deepening dynamics among Pike, Spock, Una, Kirk, and Scotty.
• Guest star Patton Oswalt appears as Doug, a Vulcan katra specialist tied to Una, as critics describe a deliberately silly outing with uneven pacing and renewed ethical debates, including comparisons to Voyager’s “Tuvix.”