You can’t forget the past.
Full spoilers follow for this episode. Click here if you want to learn how to watch Star Trek: Discovery.
Man, this show keeps getting better and better. Right off the bat in this latest episode, we get three WTF moments in the cold open alone: Burnham namedrops not just the Constitution Class starships, but the most famous one -- the Enterprise; Lorca and Tyler play shoot ‘em up on a holodeck (wha?!); and Sarek is almost killed by a fellow Vulcan who turns out to be a “logic extremist” on a suicide mission.
Of course, those three tidbits also do a good job of summing up what some folks love, some hate (and some love and hate) about this show. The Enterprise namedrop is fan service of the highest order, while the holodeck is a potentially frustrating addition because basically that tech isn’t supposed to exist during this time period (though more on that below). And the Vulcan suicide attack is the kind of thrilling dramatic twist that Discovery does so well.
“Lethe” puts Burnham back in the spotlight after focusing a bit on other characters last week, as we learn more about her relationship with her adoptive father. As it turns out, it’s complicated, though really, doesn’t that sum up most parent/child dynamics? It’s ah, fascinating, however, that the bastion of logic that is Sarek has managed to produce three, shall we say… rebellious kids. Burnham, Spock and even Sybok (remember him?) have all bucked the system in one way or another in their time.
Star Trek: Discovery walks a tightrope by not only setting the show so close to the time of The Original Series, but also by including secondary characters from that show like Sarek. But in this instance at least it pulls it off, backfilling the Vulcan ambassador’s bigger mission. This notion of integrating the Vulcans with humankind is flawlessly logical, in its way, and yet his method of using his children to do so could be read as perhaps heartlessly calculating… or is it? Sarek’s devastation over being forced to choose Spock over Burnham for the Vulcan Expeditionary Group would seem to answer that question, and Sarek actor James Frain, who I didn’t love in his first turn in the show’s premiere, pulls off the reserved emotion of it all splendidly here.
It’s also nice to get a better sense of Burnham’s headspace as she begins to come to terms with the different forces that are pulling at her, Vulcan and human. And you’ve got to love the classic Star Trek pals relationship that has developed between her and Tilly. The opening bit with them jogging together and then bouncing off one another over what to order for breakfast is just terrific stuff, with the computer’s annoyingly helpful nutrient info-dumps only highlighting the repartee between the two. This crew is really jelling.
I also really like Lt. Tyler already, and his very kind, very normal, very human delivery would seem to belie that theory about him that’s floating around. Yes, that side of him is countered by his obvious abilities as a warrior, and it’s those very skills that have caught Captain Lorca’s eye. We’ve got our new security chief here, folks. Goodbye Commander Landry -- nice knowing you.
As for Lorca, he is going through it and sharing it on Facebook, isn’t he? Jayne Brook’s Admiral Cornwell has turned into a supporting player herself and one of the more interesting Starfleet muckety-mucks we’ve ever met. The folks calling the shots back at Starfleet Command are usually ciphers on a viewscreen, but Cornwell, we learn here, has a shared (romantic) past with Lorca. Not only is she worried about the war and how his rash actions will affect Starfleet’s chances of victory, but she’s also concerned about the man himself. And she’s a shrink!
Is Lorca playing her when he pops that bottle open and they take off the comm badges? It’s hard to say, but his PTSD freak-out as he puts a phaser in her face in the middle of the night was legit. The fact that his recent actions have Starfleet concerned also shores up the standard idea of what we know about Star Trek and its officers in general, while giving Lorca an unpredictable edge that is interesting and hard to resist as a viewer. I was worried that he was going to blow his friend’s shuttle up at the end of the episode, but thankfully Discovery isn’t that show.
Though Cornwell is in almost as much trouble, as it turns out, now that she’s a prisoner of the Klingons. And let’s not forget, it was Lorca who suggested she take on that mission. Hmmm…
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
- Lethe, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a river in Hades whose waters cause drinkers to forget their past.” Makes sense.
- Where can I get a Disco shirt?
- “Computer, add salsa.”
- Speaking of which, notice how the food replicator is similar to the one from Kirk’s era with the little door that slides open and all?
- Stamets and his mirror, mirror image took a backseat this week, though we saw enough of him to hear the former grump use the word “groovy” -- and to act pretty groovy too. Something is definitely changed about him.
- Though the presence of a holodeck in this era would seem to contradict canon, there was in fact a holodeck-type technology depicted on Star Trek: The Animated Series. That show, which tells the continuing adventures of Kirk’s crew, and its place in canon is disputed, however.
- Joe Menosky, a veteran from the Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager era, co-wrote this episode.
- So Burnham was dead for three minutes when she was attacked at the Vulcan Science Academy, and it was the logic extremists who staged that attack? That means we still don’t really know what happened to her parents and how she wound up with Sarek and Amanda in the first place.
- And yes, Spock’s mom Amanda makes her Discovery debut here, played by Mia Kirshner.
- It’s worth noting that both the Klingons and the logic extremists are essentially concerned about the same thing: racial purity.
The Verdict
Star Trek: Discovery has found its pace at his point, moving along on a variety of storylines that are satisfying on both a character and plot level. The crew have come together nicely now, and the newly revealed details surrounding Sarek’s mission and his relationship with Burnham manage to tuck into continuity well while also being strong story threads.
For more on “Lethe,” listen to Scott Collura's Transporter Room 3 podcast review here.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire