Polygon's review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 finds the series still leaning too heavily on high-concept "gimmick" episodes at the expense of developing its core cast, a criticism the reviewer says persists from season 3. Showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have delivered some strong instalments, but characters including Una Chin-Riley, Nyota Uhura, La'An Noonien-Singh and Erica Ortegas are again sidelined or given weak arcs, undermining the show's original promise of blending episodic stories with serialised character growth.

The review singles out "A Case of Chiaroscuro," a noir-styled black-and-white episode, for adding little to Una's character beyond what an earlier season 2 episode already covered, and criticises a stoner-comedy mashup for failing to develop Ortegas and Scotty beyond their job roles. It is more positive about episodes where concept and character align, praising the tense real-time instalment "Off-Hour" for delivering earned emotional payoff for Chapel and M'Benga, and "The Griffin Incident" for using body horror effectively to explore the Kirk brothers' struggle to balance family and duty.