Discovery - Short Treks 2x5 "The Girl Who Made the Stars"

rating: **

the story: The young Michael Burnham learns a valuable lesson.

review: Sort of a bootleg Moana, "The Girl Who Made the Stars" combines subpar animation with an extrapolation of a tale Burnham recounts in Discovery's second season.  This is the sort of effort younger viewers won't complain as much about, compared with older ones.

It's nice, as a fan, to have a moment with the young Burnham and her dad (given how the second season played out, it's now easy to assume they had a much better relationship than Burnham and her mom...!), so I almost wish we could get more.

Just maybe, not in this style.  A stark contrast to the results with "Ephraim and Dot."

criteria analysis:

• franchise - You don't need to be a Star Trek fan to watch this one.
• series - But an appreciation of Discovery will help.
• character - A nice peak into Burnham's childhood.
• essential - It's not a great selling point for the franchise.

Discovery - Short Treks 2x4 "Ephraim and Dot"

rating: ****

the story: A tartigrade fable!

review: If Star Trek is to delve back into animation, this is the template for greatness.

Obviously, Star Trek has delved into animation before, the relatively short-lived Animated Series that, back in the early '70s, was actually the second incarnation of the franchise, a fairly cheap production that brought back the original cast and told new adventures much as the original series had, with the same basic execution, a pattern Star Trek was to follow for decades across four additional live action incarnations.

Discovery was the boldest break in the TV branch, not only because it was the first fully serialized version of the franchise, but because it freely embraced new narrative structures in ways no other version of Star Trek had before it, despite a few notable exceptions (such as Voyager's "Distant Origin," which featured the main cast in supporting roles). 

"Ephraim and Dot" is sort of like the Disney version of Star Trek.  I don't say this because of wholesome family values or any other current association that might readily come to mind, but because it feels like a Disney short, that most direct expression of the studio's best creative instincts.

It features a tartigrade, the weird alien life-form (based on a current science fad that's popped up any number of places in recent years) called the tartigrade, which factored heavily into key aspects of the first and second seasons of Discovery, enabling the show's ship to feature its innovative spore drive.  Discovery had already turned the creature into a "Devil in the Dark" morality tale, so "Ephraim and Dot" is free to presents its tartigrade at face value, and still, by the end, duplicate the feat.

At its most simple, the Short is sort of like Wall-E, with a fun little relationship that develops, mostly in silence, between the tartigrade and a Starfleet maintenance bot.  But the storytelling and animation push the whole package to exquisite heights.  This is something you will be able to enjoy or share with your kids for years to come, beyond any immediate need to delve into greater Star Trek lore.  Yet another classic Short Trek.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Lots of easter eggs for fans!
• series - Arguably the best tartigrade appearance in Discovery.
• character - And more than any previous appearance, makes you care for the creatures.
• essential - Pushes the boundaries of great Star Trek still further.

DS9's 2019 Losses...

2019 was a bad year for Deep Space Nine! 

First, Aron Eisenberg passed away September 21st.  Eisenberg ended up becoming the most successful of DS9's much-celebrated recurring guest stars when he was featured in his own episode during the final season, "It's Only a Paper Moon," in which Nog, Quark's nephew, grapples with PTSD with the help of holosuite lounge singer Vic Fontaine.  Having debuted as a naive youth, best friend of Jake Sisko, Eisenberg helped revolutionize the portrayal of Ferengi perhaps more than even Quark, rejecting his people's ideals even more radically than his father Rom, joining Starfleet and enjoying great success in his new career.  The What We Left Behind documentary, which I watched not long before Eisenberg's death, captures a bittersweet moment when the show's writers reunite to break an imaginary new episode, in which Nog is quickly killed off, with a quick cut to a distraught Eisenberg.  We would have mourned Nog, and we mourn Eisenberg himself greatly.

Then Rene Auberjonois!  The actor behind the CGI shapeshifting and rubber mask of Odo passed away December 8th.  Auberjonois had a number of distinguished roles during his career, including portraying father Mulcahy in the original film version of MASH, a supporting role in the long-running TV series Benson, and the chef in The Little Mermaid.  Star Trek fans also saw him in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, and Batman fans caught him in Batman Forever.  My favorite memory of him outside of Star Trek was The Patriot, which sees his dramatic death include a thrilling hand-off of a musket to Mel Gibson.  It's really hard to imagine the legacy of the Star Trek franchise without him.  DS9 itself would be infinitely poorer without Odo, and without Auberjonois brilliantly portraying him.  Not even considering Odo's specific relationships with Kira or Quark, his role in the series is still unique within the franchise, the kind of gruff even Bones could never approach, but the kind of gruff you want to have around, certainly for station's chief of security (Cardassian or Starfleet).

(It should be noted that the imagined new episode of the series mentioned above had two roles not specifically needed in the plot, and they were both played by these actors.  A curse!)

They will be greatly missed.

Death of D.C. Fontana, "Project Daedalus"

I figured I ought to acknowledge the passing of D.C. Fontana, one of the original guiding voices of Star Trek.  Fontana was instrumental in the development and execution of the first two seasons of the original series, and arguably, her departure from the regular writing staff in the third was part of the reason fans even today claim it was a marked downturn in quality.  She worked on The Animated Series, and the first season of Next Generation (again, an involvement that dovetails with popular fan sentiment; she left after one too many clashes with Gene Roddenberry), and wrote one episode of Deep Space Nine in its first season ("Dax"), as well as one of the fan-made Star Trek: New Voyages productions.  Aside from the films, her involvement was about as comprehensive as anyone's in the history of the franchise.  Star Trek literally wouldn't be what it is today without her.

And speaking about Star Trek today, I recently bought the DVD of Star Trek: Discovery's second season, and watching it again, in the classic binge fashion, was like experiencing it anew all over again.  The whole Spock arc plays out much differently when it doesn't seem like you're waiting forever for something to happen.  I didn't necessarily have a problem the first time around, but I did often wonder if they were dragging it out.  In binge mode it's pretty rapid progress.

As part of that I caught "Project Daedalus" again, obviously.  This is the episode pivoting around background player Airiam (the character who looked like a robot).  I stand by my original assertion that it's not as moving as he clearly wants to be, in much the way fans in a previous era worried that Harry Kim's random friend in Voyager's "Ashes to Ashes" lost some of its impact because it centered on someone we hadn't really met before.

But IGN included "Project Daedalus" in its best TV episodes of the year.  My problem with that has as much to do with the above sentiments as to the fact that the episode epitomizes the worse instincts of the season, not its best.  The writers spent a little too much time reiterating the same points, hoping it would lend the season greater resonance, when it really added endless repetition and a competition for relevance.  "Project Daedalus" will stand out for impatient viewers, who won't care to focus on better moments more entwined in series and franchise lore, and on that level it's fine.  The season, and series, has been light on such moments, rushing to embrace the trend of fully serialized storytelling.  What this ignores is that Star Trek has often been at its very best when it lingers on one brilliant moment, something that happened in episodic series past not because they were episodic, but because the opportunity was there.  Deep Space Nine and Enterprise both found landmark episodes in the midst of serialized material ("Far Beyond the Stars," "Twilight"), but when they hit a pause button on known characters, which was why they worked so well, and still work now. 

Airiam's death, and life, are fleeting elements even in "Project Daedalus."  So many new, and interesting!, characters were introduced in the second season, but Airiam still had to wait for one episode, and not even get to be the focal point, just the featured element, of the story, it was like a tacit acknowledgement of how much time had already been wasted with the character, and that the great weakness of the great strength of finally doing so was that the character herself hardly mattered.  Instead she packs an emotional wallop in a season full of them.  Too many.  And hers isn't, at least for me, the best of them, but rather...the worst.

Maybe in time, when I've watched the episode, and the season, and the series, this perspective will change.  I still care most for Saru learning the truth about his people, even if I think the idea itself was undercooked. I think it's a perfect, timeless moment, in an episode ("An Obel for Charon") that fires on all cylinders, the series at its absolute best.  That it centers on Saru, in a season that focuses most of its attention on Michael Burnham's relationship with her obscure foster brother (Spock? I think the name was), is all the better, because like Tilly, he was a character who in the first season stood ought despite having little material to truly justify it, and he and Tilly were both vindicated in the second (but Saru's materuak was better).  But maybe the randomness of Airiam and her tragic fate(s) will ring like the perfect echo of events truly epic in Star Trek lore.

If that's what those observers are thinking, I can get behind that.

Discovery - Short Treks 2x3 "Ask Not"

rating: ***

the story: A cadet faces an awful test when faced with an impossible decision.

review: Finally, a Short Trek that isn't mediocre or great, just comfortably somewhere in the middle.  This is the seventh one now; the format itself has been tested and its creators generally know what's possible.  This is the third one, of the past three, to give the Discovery Enterprise a little more breathing room, and the first to feature Pike directly.  As he was throughout his appearances in Discovery's second season, Pike remains eminently watchable, so "Ask Not" has at least that going for it.  But there's more.

Ever since Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Wesley Crusher's early experiences in The Next Generation, fans have been given glimpses at the sorts of things Starfleet recruits might expect in their initial training.  The 2009 Star Trek movie was built around the idea, too, but for the purposes of this Short Trek, I'll dwell mostly around Wes.

"Ask Not" feels like an attempt to give us something far better than what Wes got to experience.  It doesn't give us strong character work so much a great grasp of the scenario.  We get some fun details, including an unexpected callback to The Motion Picture's hilarious "reserve activation clause" that Kirk used to bring McCoy back, another sign that Discovery's creators have been far closer attention to franchise lore than some fans have been willing to admit.  (The longer a franchise goes, the more old fans like to claim that the new stuff "just isn't the same."  But Star Trek fans have been making that claim since at least the first season of Next Generation.  And really, since The Motion Picture.)

This is the sort of experience that's fun just to watch play out.  Like a lot early Next Generation, Wes's experiences feel fairly primitive.  "Ask Not" is vivid, as Discovery tends to be, without being needlessly flashy (these productions are always by definition minimalist, operating on budgets befitting their brief running times; this one's the shortest of the Shorts so far).

It's another real treat.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Good use of Starfleet lore, in familiar yet fresh ways.
• series - If it doesn't give us fresh insight into Pike necessarily, it does give us a welcome return visit with this version of him.
• character - With such a brief run-time, it's a welcome relief that this Short Trek didn't try to hamfist character development, as some of the earlier ones did.
• essential - For its kind of story, yes!

notable guest-stars:

Anson Mount (Pike)

Ethan Peck (Spock)

Rebecca Romijn (Number One)

Discovery - Short Treks 2x2 "The Trouble with Edward"

rating: ****

the story: You've got to see the secret origin of the tribble scourge to believe it!

review: Every time the tribbles are in the spotlight, they shine.  You've got "The Trouble with Tribbles" in the original series, "More Trouble, More Tribbles" in The Animated Series, "Trials and Tribble-ations" in Deep Space Nine, and now, "The Trouble with Edward."

Aside from Pike at the start of the episode, the cast is entirely original to this Short Trek.  It doesn't matter.  Everyone delivers.  And it's got terrific logic.  And it becomes pretty darn hilarious.  It's everything you would want if someone were to try and explain all of it. 

With the original batch of Short Treks, the writers delivered a mixed bag of brilliant and labored stories.  The first two of this second batch have both been brilliant.  As a format, Short Treks is turning into a reliable engine.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Tribbles!
• series - Pike's bit actually helps flesh out the story.
• character - Take your pick, but really it's the tribbles.
• essential - Required viewing for fans.  Including the commercial at the end!

notable guest-stars:

Anson Mount (Pike)

Discovery - Short Treks 2x1 "Q & A"

rating: ****

the story: Spock boards the Enterprise for the first time and meets Number One.

review: Seems more an ode to Number One than Spock, though it can function both ways, and I'm not at all complaining either way.  This may be the best Number One spotlight (and the closest to learning her name?) we ever get.

I've already seen quibbling over whether or not they screwed up the costuming for this one, given that it's technically a flashback to a period with different costumes than we remember.  I suppose that can't possibly matter in the grand scheme, unless you really want it to, and I don't.

Written by acclaimed novelist Michael Chabon, "Q & A" sets the the second batch of Short Treks on sure footing.  Number One didn't get a lot of scenes in Discovery's second season, so it was nice for her to get this spotlight at all, much less it turning out to be such a good one.  A character famously portrayed by Majel Barrett Roddenberry in the original pilot of the original series ("The Cage"), and never seen again, until Discovery, Number One occupies a unique place in franchise lore.  Here we discover that she's an intellectual equal to Spock, and it doesn't feel like a cheap development.  We even see how she helps guide Spock's subsequent deportment, reconciling the smiling Spock glimpsed in that pilot with the famously stoic one better known in virtually every other appearance.

It does help connect the Spock previously featured in Discovery with his other portrayals, too.  When we caught up with him in the series, he was already past the point where we'd seen him with Pike's crew originally.  We not only learned of his relationship with Michael Burnham, but another period of doubt in a life filled with such moments.  Here it's nice to be able to enjoy unfiltered Spock, with someone who accepts him as he is, not merely as a friend or colleague, but his basic character.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Wonderful look at Spock regardless of where you're coming from.
• series - A welcome return to the Discovery version of Pike's Enterprise.
• character - At long last, a Number One spotlight!
• essential - It's possibly the best one we'll ever have!

notable guest-stars:

Anson Mount (Pike)

Rebecca Romijn (Number One)

Ethan Peck (Spock)

What We Left Behind: A Look at the Documentary about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Released on home recently, What We Left Behind is a retrospective documentary celebrating Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the third live action series in the franchise that ran from 1993 to 1999 (making this twenty years since it ended).  I didn't participate in the crowdfunding for it, but I loved that DS9 showrunner Ira Steven Behr helped put it together.

I've been a member of the cult-within-a-cult since the back half of the second season, when I started watching (not incoincidentally, perhaps, also when Next Generation was ending), perhaps with a rerun of "Necessary Evil" from earlier that season (which at any rate is my earliest solid memory of the series).  As What We Left Behind makes clear, lots of fans dismissed DS9 as too dark, too far from the spirit of the franchise.  Later, internet observers sort of convinced themselves it was Voyager or Enterprise that led to the end of that era, but it was really DS9's lack of popularity that began the downward spiral.  They had to add Worf in the fourth season to even begin to convince fans it was worth watching.  The third season remains my favorite, when everything started coming together to create the memories the internet fans have of the richly-woven tapestry that helped usher in the modern era of serialized storytelling in TV shows.

So to call it a "cult-within-a-cult" is to acknowledge that although What We Left Behind dwells on the unpopularity, there has long been a subset of fans who argue that DS9 is the best Star Trek has ever been, a phenomenon that probably helped make the documentary itself exist.

What the documentary is, then, is perhaps as much a love letter for initiated fans as for those just becoming aware of its remarkable achievements a quarter century after it began.  There's some of the actors reprising their crooning honed from years on the convention circuit, peppered about, and most of the cast getting a chance to revisit their time making the show.  In a lot of ways, it's an opportunity to officially welcome Terry Farrell back into the fold, after she somewhat abruptly left the series just before its final season after becoming convinced she was ultimately unappreciated by the studio. 

One of the more surprising things I learned was how Marc Alaimo views himself.  He, too, apparently felt unappreciated, needing validation that went beyond being repeatedly brought back to reprise the increasingly pivotal role of Gul Dukat (somewhat amusingly, Nana Visitor seems to cringe at the thought of Alaimo's crush on her).  It was also great hearing more about how Avery Brooks presented himself, and how he was viewed by castmates.

And, CBS All Access, after you've done Star Trek: Picard, take a cue from the reunited writers room brainstorming.  Do an update of DS9, too! 

Anyway, as a longtime fan, What We Left Behind was absolutely a rewarding experience.  I don't know how it plays if you're not already committed to DS9 (a lot of commentators are doing the default social media thing), but hopefully it's a good way to discover just a little of what the series contributed to the franchise.  Even the extended deleted scenes don't cover everything else!  But there's a good sense of humor involved.  Just wait until Behr and Visitor give us the best scene of the series in the credits!

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda: An Overview

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (2000-2005) was an oddity in an era where fans were weaning themselves off Star Trek thanks to a combination of The X-Files, Babylon 5, and even Xena: Warrior Princess redefining their viewing habits.  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had developed a strong but relatively small following, and Star Trek: Voyager was proving hard to love.  Farscape swooped in to steal attention, and Stargate: SG1 was on its way to becoming a whole franchise of its own.  Then of course Battlestar Galactica happened.  Star Trek: Enterprise couldn't compete.  Andromeda, stuck in the sudden vacuum of syndication that had worked so well for Star Trek: The Next Generation, became an afterthought, no matter how successful in that market.

Fans heaped blame on Robert Hewitt Wolfe's departure in Andromeda's second season.  Wolfe had developed Andromeda out of basic elements left behind by Gene Roddenberry (most notably the name of lead character Dylan Hunt, which had appeared in two failed pilots from the '70s), and fans latched onto him as a central creative voice in an era where J. Michael Straczynski had dominated the idea in Babylon 5.  Wolfe had been a crucial part of the creative team behind Deep Space Nine, and all the dazzling elements he created for Andromeda were themselves worth salivating over.  He struck big idea after big idea for the show's first season, and it looked as if Andromeda might join the geek pantheon of beloved TV shows.  And then Wolfe left in the second season.

What exactly Wolfe was doing originally was never really questioned.  Certainly, the idea of the show itself can be seen as a version of the whole Star Trek era from which he'd come.  The premise, even if suggested by Roddenberry, could be viewed as a variation of Voyager's concept, that a lone starship might be forced to carry the torch of an entire civilization.  The dynamic between Hunt and breakout character Tyr Anasazi could be seen as a riff between the unique dynamic seen in the Deep Space Nine pilot "Emissary," in which lead character Benjamin Sisko shows us a new way to look at Next Generation's Jean-Luc Picard.  (Here, Sisko would be Tyr, the more aggressive loner, while Picard would be the idealistic visionary Picard.) 

And what about Trance?  Trance was Wolfe's biggest tipoff.  Trance was a combination of Next Generation's Guinan and Deep Space Nine's Odo.  Guinan, when introduced, was made up of odd suggestions of great mystery, whose true nature, powers, and origins lurked behind everything she did.  She was no mere bartender.  (I suppose even "plain, simple tailor" Garak in Deep Space Nine owes her a debt.)  Except the more we learn about her, the less spectacular Guinan becomes, until at last we learn who her people really are in Star Trek Generations, and the mystique is finally gone completely.  Odo, meanwhile, is known as a shapeshifter, but he never knew his own people, and spends his first few seasons earnestly searching for them.  Finally we learn they're the Founders, who lead the malevolent Dominion, and Odo spends the rest of that series trying to reconcile his life with the nature of his people.

Trance develops differently.  By the time Wolfe leaves, she's still largely unexplained, but there are increasing hints of what she might actually be.  There apparently was great resistance to her continued presence in the series, so cosmetic and personality changes push Trance along, including in Wolfe's final episode, until Andromeda reveals, in its final season, that she is a star avatar (and a crucial one, at that).

The classic narrative is that everything that was good about Andromeda happened while Wolfe was still involved, and that it all went downhill from there.  I watched the series throughout its original run.  I'm watching it back now.  Wolfe, I think, tried to go too big too soon.  He knew that the episodes fans tend to love best are the ones that go big.  He oversaw some big episodes in the first season.  He built Tyr up to be a thorn in Hunt's side.  But eventually, if Tyr was to stay, he would have to settle in a little.  But to be true to himself, to everything he did even when Wolfe was still around, he had to leave, even if Wolfe never did.  And ironically, the seeds are definitively planted for it not longer after Wolfe did, and it's arguably Andromeda's finest hour.

I think Wolfe's biggest failure was forgetting the premise, that Dylan Hunt awakens after three hundred years to find the Systems Commonwealth gone, and civilization devolved into barbarity.  He never really depicts the barbarity. He becomes obsessed, like Hunt, in the quest to rebuild the Commonwealth.  The fifth season is often accused to be the show's worst, the most Hercules of all the Hercules shenanigans that followed Wolfe's departure.  Andromeda starred Kevin Sorbo, who previously starred in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  I'm not sure what show fans watched when thinking of Hercules, because Sorbo always, always had a companion of some sort in that series (and, remember, Xena was a spinoff of it), but Andromeda had a whole cast of "companions" that even after Wolfe's departure remained thoroughly in the picture, in the same roles they'd always occupied.  Beka Valentine continued on as Hunt's rogue first officer (with her own ship, the Eureka Maru, which in some ways was like criticizing Voyager for never, ever remembering that Neelix had his own ship, too).  Trance continued baffling everyone.  Harper remained deliriously, happily Harper.  And Tyr remained Tyr, even while he struggled to decide to remain Tyr.  Yeah, we lost Yoda-like Rev Bem, but the makeup ought to have been better conceived.  That's why we lost him.  And we gained Rhade, who was like the show's secret weapon all along.  But maybe the right Rhade would have been better.  Well, can't have everything.  And Rommie!  All three versions!  Four, by the final season! 

And that final, "disastrous" season?  It's basically one long meditation on what a failed civilization looks like, one that definitely needs saving, and Hunt's crew doesn't magically decide to work peacefully together, but has to work at trusting each other.  And they all have their own distinctive arcs.  If this were Babylon 5, starting the series like that and then hammering big moment after big moment would've been completely natural. 

It's also worth considering the Magog.  The Magog were the biggest gamble.  If Wolfe had Star Trek on the brain when he developed Andromeda, the Magog were his Borg.  In Next Generation, the Borg were actually teased as early as the first season, but didn't debut until the second, even though their biggest mark waited until the end of the third.  Wolfe ended Andromeda's first season with the first Magog encounter, and it was terrifying.  He even seemed to anticipate Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.  And that was only the beginning.  It wasn't until the final episode of the series that the Magog and their World Ship and the Spirit of the Abyss were finally, finally defeated.  (Even Enterprise, at the same time, didn't nail what cosmetically looked fairly similar with its Temporal Cold War and "Future Guy" arc.)  The Borg are hard to compete with, but the Magog make a fair argument.  I think even the Shadows can't compete with their legacy (but I'm not a Babylon 5 guy).

Anyway, I remain a big fan of Andromeda, and yes, I'm rewatching the series at the moment.  I hope to put together a viewing guide, much as I have for every incarnation of Star Trek.  Maybe not exactly as I've done with Star Trek, but enough so that Andromeda can begin to be...appreciated.  Because it really deserves to be.

Star Trek: Discovery - In Control

I was reading a friend's blog recently, and he happened to note that there was a Star Trek book published in 2017 called Section 31 - Control.  Now, anyone who's watched the second season of Star Trek: Discovery will quickly recognize the terms "Section 31" and "Control," especially in connection with each other.  I haven't read Star Trek books in years (I've read Star Trek comics more recently; IDW has done a lot of interesting things with the franchise), so hadn't really caught on to the existence of the book and Discovery's apparent wholesale appropriation of it until pointed out.  (It's worth noting that the creators of the show have links to the books, which I realize is not entirely unique but has seldom resulted in links between screen and book material.)

Readers of the books, assuming they're interested in new screen material (it was my impression that there was a diminished overlay at the very least in previous years), no doubt made the immediate connection.  Readers of Section 31 - Control itself might have had very strong opinions about Discovery's second season, or they might have been perfectly fine with it.  You can find a summary of the book here.  As far as I can tell, without having read the book myself (although I'd now really love to), there seems to be plenty of room for Discovery's arc to have had the book directly in mind, either as an homage or prequel material. 

Discovery has been blazing its own path in franchise lore.  Plenty of fans already thought the Abrams movies set a different, more action-oriented standard (#notmyStarTrek).  I mention in my reviews how when the series tries to be traditionally Star Trek is when it is least effective.  Yet the heart is always there, the yearning for human potential and the inherent belief that the potential is positive, and that's what really matters, that we're capable, a whole crew at a time, of miracles.  There's never been a movie or a TV series in this thing that believed genius was held in a single person, but rather than there was a spectrum of extraordinary abilities working in concert. 

What Section 31 has suggested since it first popped up in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the antithesis of that idea, that genius is to be coveted, protected, exploited.  (You can see examples of Starfleet's fallibility outside of the shadowy organization, for instance, with Admiral Dougherty evaluating Data's fate without affection in Star Trek: Insurrection.)  It's not just a metaphor about the spy world, but everything that can go wrong when you begin to doubt, lose the ideals Gene Roddenberry championed, believed in, at precisely the point in history when they no longer seemed possible. 

Section 31 - Control, the book, is a culmination of Julian Bashir's efforts to defeat Section 31.  The Control in Discovery is the beginning of Section 31 losing its way.  Section 31 at this moment in history could recruit morally questionable figures like Mirror Georgiou, but it could also win the loyalty of fundamentally good people like Ash Tyler.  Tellingly, Control targeted a rank-and-file agent like Leland.  Section 31 was featured in Star Trek: Enterprise as well, a hundred years prior to the events of Discovery, and even then it was looked upon as a heinous concept, and yet it seems to have been pushed however grudgingly into a less covert existence, for a time.  (Of course, in Star Trek Into Darkness, Section 31 seems chiefly interested in warmongering.) 

There's a Georgiou Section 31 series on the horizon.  I find that an increasingly intriguing concept.

Discovery 2x14 "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham makes her leap into history.

review: This is kind of instantly the high water mark for epic Star Trek TV storytelling in a single episode (though it obviously continues and contains elements from previous episodes).  It's a bombastic sendoff for the Discovery crew in its original timeframe, and a nifty packaging for why we don't hear about any of this in later (earlier) incarnations of the franchise.

Okay, so that last part might be a point of debate for some fans, who will naturally feel dismissive for any number of reasons.  What a cheap way to explain it! they'll say.  But forget them.  This has been a series that has consistently enmeshed itself in familiar lore while carving a separate destiny.  Now it seems it's reached the point where the unknown will truly be embraced, and all we have to do is wait for next season.  This is how season finales are done, folks.  This is one of the best I've ever seen.

So of course there's lots to appreciate.  We get flashes of that brilliance Discovery has so enjoyed celebrating about Starfleet officers.  We get callbacks to all the signals the crew followed throughout the season (and how the whole of it feels so satisfying in summary).  We get Burnham and Spock in a bittersweet farewell.  We get Stamets and Culber finally reconciling.  We get Tilly's queen friend saving the day.  We get Control being defeated.  We get Georgiou being truly heroic.  We get repair droids! 

Just a lot of good stuff.  The episode ends with Pike, Number One, and Spock (shaved! in uniform!) on the bridge of the Enterprise (and the credits featuring the original theme!), nudging us to what Star Trek was when it began, and it feels right.  So often fans have struggled to identify Discovery with the original series, so it seems appropriate that a season that spent so much time with familiar elements concludes on such a note. This might be the kind of experience Enterprise tried to capture in its final episode, with a holodeck simulation aboard Picard's ship of Archer's crew.  Then again, it might be equally controversial.  But then, again, forget the fans who will view the results that way.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A rewarding way to bridge the Enterprise with the Discovery.
• series - Setting the Discovery definitively along its own destiny.
• character - Burnham becomes the symbol of what Spock later finds in Kirk & Bones.
• essential - An affirmation of Discovery's place in the franchise.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Rebecca Romijn (Number One)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Discovery 2x13 "Such Sweet Sorrow"

rating: ****

the story: Deciding on a final course of action to thwart Control.

review: "Such Sweet Sorrow" is an excellent follow-up to "Through the Valley of Shadows," and an even better way to smooth over the rough patch of discovering the identity of the Red Angel while also building on it, and as the second season has been doing so well, emphasizing the strengths of its characters and how they embody the franchise tradition of utilizing brilliant minds in concert.

And blowing up a ship?  Almost!  And saying dramatic goodbyes?  Yep!

My biggest criticism of the season is that it began to overplay the dramatic moments.  Once Saru nearly died, it was hard to top.  What "Such Sweet Sorrow" does so brilliantly is not play things the same way, but rather circle back to the tradition of optimism in the franchise, crews supporting each other, defying fate (lookin' at you, Pike!) and the odds.  Once the solution to the Control problem becomes, once and for all, time travel, Burnham volunteers to carry it out, even though it becomes equally clear that she can expect to be lost in the future as a result.  But just as she decides to walk this course alone, everyone rallies around her, at least to help her reach the point where she'll get to make the jump. 

Two notable exceptions: Pike, of course, who the season has made clear has a specific destiny, and nothing done here is going to change that, and Tyler.  Burnham and Tyler have been on a rollercoaster ride across Discovery's two seasons.  One might expect Tyler, of all people, to finally commit to Burnham.  No doubt we'll learn more of what follows for him, and for them, later (I have to chuckle at my early season efforts at prognostication, believing Tyler and Section 31 to have a limited role in it), whether in the season finale (next episode) or at some point in the future.

This is a series that keeps its cards close to the vest, and yet sometimes it allows a wink or two to escape.  "Such Sweet Sorrow" gives us a literal wink, perhaps, when Georgiou finally tells Pike who she really is, and he winks back to her.  Does that mean we'll see more about that later?

Anyway, the episode also features a lot of great visuals, and even a redemption of the seemingly vapid Tilly Short Trek.  Plenty to enjoy.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Our first look at the Discovery version of the classic Enterprise bridge!
• series - A dramatic setup to the season finale.
• character - Burnham's arc reaches a satisfying climax.
• essential - Where does she goes from here?  I think the question itself is raised eloquently.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Rebecca Romijn (Number One)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
James Frain (Sarek)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Discovery 2x12 "Through the Valley of Shadows"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham has a showdown with another Control avatar.

review: This is a series that's at its best when it needs to be.  There are rough patches at times, but there are in books, too, which any reader ought to be able to acknowledge.  When a long-form TV story is being told, there will be episodes where things that have to happen won't resonate as well as they should, especially if the complexity of the story is sufficient where risks have to be taken.  This season of Discovery has had considerable complexity, and considerable risks have been taken.  Much of the complexity has taken the shape of applying parallel structures to successive arcs.  Much of the storytelling itself has as a result become familiar.  If one version hasn't worked as well as another, there's always a chance to see it again.

The Section 31 threat, as the season has crystalized around, finds a new mode of expression in "Through the Valley of Shadows," in a single episode repeating the Leland arc but with greater focus and clarity, and as a result, execution, with a colleague Burnham knew from the Shinzou (the ship she served aboard at the beginning of the series, with the original Georgiou).

But most significantly, what helps the episode succeed so well is how it allows Discovery's eclectic cast of characters do what they do best, which is work together to solve problems.  For instance, we get to see Reno again, and her relationship with Stamets has now reached the point where she's willing to speak on his behalf to Culber, and that in itself is satisfying for all three characters.  These are characters who rarely mince words.  They take risks at alarming rates, in a very classic franchise tradition, both in their willingness to try and save the whole universe at great personal sacrifice, and they don't mind doing so at the personal level, either.  That was kind of the whole point of the series, looking beyond the Roddenberry template of a unified front, and discovering that it still exists anyway.  The Reno/Stamets/Culber sequence demonstrates that in spades.

Does it get better than that?  Wow it does!  It's Pike's second big moment of the season, and second direct acknowledgement of his ultimate fate.  And to do so, Discovery handles even niftier Star Trek continuity, digging deep to showcase Klingon time crystals (and Tyler's son!).  You'd have to be willing to remember Voyager and its series finale ("Endgame") to grin about that one.  I'm glad Pike has had this chance to shine, and his role in the season has been the most rewarding element of it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - There's a satisfying deep cut of lore to savor here.
• series - But it's also satisfying for Discovery fans.
• character - Pike gets the nod as biggest beneficiary of the episode.
• essential - But really, everyone wins.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)

Discovery 2x11 "Perpetual Infinity"

rating: ***

the story: The Red Angel's backstory is explored.

review: If "Red Angel," the preceding episode, was underwhelming despite being hugely significant to the season, the follow-up needed to deliver.  But "Perpetual Infinity" is, if anything, equally maddeningly underwhelming.

Just at production level (I don't often discuss this, as it's assumed, unless I'm commenting on something particularly good, that the execution itself is adequate), the actress playing Burnham's mom is not compelling.  And that's a huge chunk of the impact missing right there. 

The episode, the story itself, is not at Discovery's compelling best, either.  Discovery has hit some pretty high notes, whether in these first two seasons or even the Short Treks in between ("Calypso").  When all cylinders are firing, this is just about as good as it gets in the franchise.  "Perpetual Infinity" is instead undercooked, with too much held back to stretch out the story.  At times like this you yearn for the good old days of this sort of climactic material being saved for those episode season finales/premieres, not for the sake of turning back the clock to episodic storytelling being the norm, but serialized storytelling, when used, being used to maximum effect.

Instead we just get another "Wait, there's more!" but without any big reveals yet to remain, because at this point if there were, they might begin to feel like cheats.  Instead it's just the bad guy getting away for plot convenience.

Which wastes one of those moments that does feel impactful, Tyler's apparent death and his subsequent transmission about what's really happening.  Instead we get more of what Discovery has revealed as one of its crutches from the original series: fight scenes that just sort of exist.  Even if the choreography has improved from fifty years ago, they're still just window dressing, just as they felt in the first season when Burnham was facing the Klingons and it felt like the producers wanted fight scenes without really justifying them.  It's not just having these scenes that's supposed to be impressive, but knowing how do execute them, no matter how technically flawless they are.  They have no heart.

Even if Leland has transformed into the true threat of the season, and even if the fans speculating that the whole point is to provide an origin for the Borg (and the definitive reason they're obsessed with humans, like an updated V'ger after all), the whole thrust of the emergency weakens when the arc refuses to admit there are obvious franchise holes in its logic.  Time travel became an increasingly detailed phenomenon in later incarnations, to the point where Starfleet in later centuries took on the protection of the timeline as part of its duties.  And yet nowhere is this acknowledged.  The logic of the storytelling becomes too finely centered on artificial moments meant to derive emotional impact, if all we're meant to care about is Burnham agonizing over the sudden revelation that her mom was alive all along, and has spent a long time trying to solve one problem, and failing miserably. 

Part of what made Deep Space Nine so compelling is that there were characters who showed up to cover every conceivable vantage point.  Discovery has cobbled together an impressive repertory of familiar faces, but holds too many of these cards close to the chest.  This might produce endless possibilities in shock reveals, and often plenty of wonderful character moments, too, but in the end it's the storytelling, when all's said and done, that has to hold up. 

Bottom line, you have to nail big moments like this, and "Perpetual Infinity" doesn't.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - You truly have to be a fan of Discovery to enjoy these results.
• series - It's not an insult to say that, but it would be nice to believe anyone could appreciate them.
• character - This is about as big as Burnham's gotten, and there's a nice moment in which her differences with Spock are finally put aside, too, and that's gratifying.
• essential - The elements themselves are mandatory viewing, it's just the execution that's lacking.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Discovery 2x10 "The Red Angel"

rating: ***

the story: At last, the identity of the Red Angel is revealed!

review: So, obviously a big moment for the season, and as we learn by the end, and as explained in the next episode, a big moment for the series in general.  But it somehow manages to underwhelm.  So let's explain:

This kind of storytelling, where big moments have to happen throughout an entire season, can begin to overwhelm, especially if many of those moments are set up as parallel to each other, or in literary parlance, foreshadowing.  Whether you're thinking of Tilly's arc from the first half of the season or Saru's in the middle, or the hunt for Spock that accompanied both, all of its fed on the same basic arc of big revelations and momentous character developments, and they all led to this big reveal.  "Red Angel" has a red herring, in that for the duration of the episode we're led to believe that the eponymous individual is Burnham herself, some future version on an epic quest.

But that final line, and a sparing glimpse, reveals otherwise.  But more on that next episode.

Instead, my thoughts on "Red Angel" itself rests on the crew's plan to in effect stage Burnham's murder, which ought to feel like one of the worst possible experiences any of them could possibly endure.  But we already had that with Saru, and that was a moment that could never really be topped.  So instead of setting this moment up, the show instead sabotaged it.  The results feel convoluted instead, thoroughly acceptable in its storytelling logic, but...less than they should have been. 

Last season had this sort of experience, too: even if basically everything we knew about Lorca confirmed what he was all along, it was still disappointing for viewers who nonetheless had grown fond of him to see Lorca unceremoniously dispatched well before that season concluded.  Gene Roddenberry had realized that effect when he coined the term "beloved character status" for Saavik when Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was in development.  Saavik, who had been featured prominently in Star Trek II and III (Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock), was intended to be among the conspirators in VI, but Roddenberry vetoed the idea, on the grounds that this was a character who had firmly established herself as one of the good guys.  No manner of plot necessity would've truly justified betraying that status, and would've tarnished her rather than make for compelling material.

That's essentially what Discovery seems incapable of preventing itself from doing in these season-long arcs.  It never seems to know when it's pushed too far.  In the rush to keep viewers engaged, it forgets that at the end of the day, the whole thing will be taken into account.  Some fans will complain that Spock himself has been poorly handled in all of this, but his material has been the strongest, and it's obvious that the writers were most concerned about his role in the arc, and kept it most protected. 

If only they had been so careful with the rest of it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The constant pitfall of serialized storytelling in established frameworks like Star Trek is that they run the risk of becoming too insular in their logic, which is where "Red Angel" seems to leave this arc.
• series - The overall importance to Discovery itself can't, however, be denied.
• character - The focus once more swings to Burnham.
• essential - Even if the execution is suspect, the content speaks for itself.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)

Discovery 2x9 "Project Daedalus"

rating: **

the story: In which we learn more about Airiam...that robotic character...right before we say goodbye.

review: "Project Daedalus" reverts back to Discovery's penchant for viewing traditional Star Trek through a warped lens.  The ostensible central element of the episode, the character and destiny of Airium, never fully claims the spotlight, instead serving as an echo for things the season has already done, and better.

Airiam herself is fascinating.  She's one of several background characters in the tradition of the original series, which if you look closely featured characters like this, and the diehards...care?  But in the grand scheme, their repeated presence doesn't really amount to much.  (There were characters like this in other series as well; Voyager in particular.  What separates Discovery's use is mostly the endless emphasis on them.)  Let's call it the Detmer Effect.  Detmer is a character who, like Burnham and Saru, hails from the Shinzou, the original Georgiou's ship at the beginning of the series.  She mostly serves as a point of continuity, and the lingering repair job that left an implant on her face, a funky hairstyle, and a replacement eye.  You'd know her if you saw her.  You might even know her name.  But she really doesn't amount to anything except her image.  Discovery has made no effort except continually showing her to make Detmer anything actually important.  Even Mayweather, a main character in Enterprise who was featured much in this manner for most of his appearances, had a ton more to do in sporadic spotlight material.  Airiam, even in finally getting her story told, is not a Mayweather.  Even her spotlight episode is full of things other people are doing.

But at least one of these background characters gets a story.  We learn that Airiam isn't a robot or an android, but a person who survived a horrific crash, that among other things claimed the love of her life.  But the story doesn't even allow her to dwell on that, the most significant parallel of her story (see: Spock, Culber, even Tyler).  Instead she becomes another pawn in the Section 31 power struggle.

So anyway, what's most worth remembering about the episode is once again Spock and Burnham, still trying to sort out their relationship, this time over a game of 3D chess.  Spock proves cruel in his efforts to force Burnham to face her past.  This is a Spock who is feeling less of his typical Vulcan restraint than we're accustomed to, who is a lot more like the Spock famously known as "frenemies" with Bones McCoy.  Except this Spock is interacting with someone he knows a lot better than Bones, someone he literally grew up with, who knows as much about him as he does them.  As much as Burnham is trying to use her knowledge of Spock, Spock is protecting himself, as he has been all season, as best he can.  Burnham just happens to represent everything he thought he'd mastered already, but still challenges him.  This is Motion Picture territory, when even Kirk couldn't get through to a Spock who again had tried to perfect himself, but found a giant obstacle in his way.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is the sort of episode that might prove uncomfortable for established fans, who will naturally seek a more comforting, familiar vision of Spock.
• series - And yet it's a Spock who fits in perfectly in the Discovery model.
• character - And as such, that chess sequence is the highlight of the episode.
• essential - It also completely overpowers the Airiam elements, which undercuts the whole episode.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)

Discovery 2x8 "If Memory Serves"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham and Spock go to Talos IV.

review: "If Memory Serves" opens with clips from the original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (later refashioned into the two-part "Menagerie").  The episode establishes that these events happened in Discovery's past, and so it ends up serving as a sequel (I suppose the second one).  Burnham brings Spock there thanks to the Red Angel mystery, and because she hopes the Talosians will help awaken Spock from his fractured state of mind.

Long story short, this is the episode where Spock finally gets to be Spock again.

Not only that, but Burnham and Spock, as adopted siblings, have a dramatic memory of their childhood revisited, and I'm stating now that it's one of the great scenes of franchise history, a must-see for fans of either character, and hopefully as of now, both.  They are now inextricably intertwined.  (The only thing that could make all this better?  Bring in Sybok.  But what're the chances of that happening?)  You know how the Abrams movies put a hard focus on Spock's difficult formative years, how he struggled to reconcile his human and Vulcan sides, and how his Vulcan peers made things worse?  That's the level of material we get here.  Burnham's younger self attempts to distance herself from Spock in the most logical way possible.  In a lot of ways, the results are what define Spock for years to come, his obsessive devotion to his Vulcan side over his human half that resonated so strongly in all the classic material. 

But that's not all!  There's more Section 31 drama, not just the emerging power struggle between Georgiou and Leland, but Tyler still trying to be taken seriously by Pike.

But that's the least of Tyler's worries!  He also has a big confrontation with Culber, who's having a difficult time adjusting to his return from the dead, finally even pushing Stamets away.  It's by far the best material Culber has ever gotten (a different era would've given him a whole episode to himself, and maybe that still happens later in the season?), given something other than his romantic relationship with Stamets to distinguish himself. 

It's a strong character episode all around, because of course even Pike gets in on the action, with a complicated reunion with Vina (we know that by the end of "Menagerie" they'll get a more satisfying one).  It was absolutely the right call to do this, if they were going to use Pike at all.  This might be the essential episode of the season, and an overall series highlight.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Talos IV's legacy continues to expand, and of course Spock.
• series - Spock becomes thoroughly a part of Discovery mythos.
• character - There's strong work in this regard everywhere!
• essential - Absolutely!

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)

Discovery 2x7 "Light and Shadows"

rating: ***

the story: Burnham finally finds Spock.

review: "Light and Shadows" feels like an episode that will be interesting to return to.  It might be something truly special.  For the moment, I will treat it as a transitional episode, though this alone makes it exceptional in the annals of the franchise.

The story of "Light and Shadows" doesn't attempt in itself to accomplish much.  This might sound as if it's perhaps ultimately a waste of time that you don't really need to see, but that would be an overly reductive conclusion.  Star Trek has traditionally been episodic, which this season has attempted to replicate, even as the series continues its dedication to the new serialization dynamic favored by TV shows today.  Yet it's rare for episodes even in this time just to spend time with the characters without trying to accomplish something big, which is of course much of what Discovery has become known for, big reveals at nearly every turn.  This makes "Light and Shadows" a rarity, a curiosity, and just perhaps, a hidden treasure in the making.

The thought of how the episode feels might best be demonstrated by the elaborate visual sequence of Burnham landing her shuttle on Vulcan as she prepares to visit Sarek and Amanda.  It's one of the more striking images of Vulcan we've seen over the course of its sporadic appearances throughout the franchise, comparable best to the revised scenes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, director's cut.

The other distinctive element of the episode is how it treats time anomalies, again visually rather than strictly storytelling. This is well-trod Star Trek territory, and yet we've seldom seen it done this way. 

Add in some of the more developed insights of Section 31 in this series, including all three representatives (Tyler, Georgiou, and Leland), and there's a lot more to unpack here than it might seem.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The search for Spock concludes!  And this is once again time to talk about time.
• series - A moment that has been developing all season.
• character - This is indeed Spock as we've never seen him before.
• essential - Perhaps a topic to be revisited later for a remarkably subtle episode.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
James Frain (Sarek)

Discovery 2x6 "The Sound of Thunder"

rating: ***

the story: Saru fights for his people.

review: Much of what "The Sound of Thunder" accomplishes might ultimately hinge on what Discovery does to follow it up.  On the one hand, it's a powerful example of the kind of hope for the future that Star Trek has always been about.  And on the other, it might end up serving as a cautionary tale.

"The Sound of Thunder" is a kind of sequel to the Short Treks minisode "The Brightest Star," which was the first time the series visited Saru's home world and the circumstances in which he left it behind.  Now we see Saru, having made a personal discovery a few episodes ago, coming back not only to redeem himself, but help his entire species move on.  The question remains, move on to what?  Saru was originally depicted as an alien whose fear response was the result of his species being prey.  Recently he learned that given the natural course of events the predators on his world had been preventing, he could actually move on from that.  As we learn in "Thunder" (much as Voyager depicted with the Kazon in its second season), quite the reverse ends up being true.  Saru's people, the Kelpians, were originally the predators, and the present state of affairs (as of "Thunder," concluded) was actually engineered to prevent them from continuing that role.  (It's almost like an analogy for post-war occupations, as in Germany after WWII or Iraq today, though so thoroughly fictionalized as to not depict clear parallels.)

So the thought remains, will the Kelpians become predators again?  On the one hand, Saru is optimistic, and of course he is.  But on the other, he himself is depicted as more aggressive, less reasonable.  It might even be noted that Saru was always aggressive in his instincts when provoked, even when driven by fear.  Now, imagine a whole species, all of whom apart from Saru himself never moved on from their simple, isolated life on Kaminar, and you would expect that...the results will probably be complicated. 

That lingering doubt has to be the response to an episode like this.  The episode itself is artful and gives some lovely insights to other matters (the whole season arc actually begins to look like Enterprise's much-discussed Temporal Cold War from a different vantage point).  But the risk of serialized storytelling is that in avoiding conclusions in any given installment, it becomes difficult to properly value some installments based on their own merits.  You end with ambiguity, you get an ambiguous result.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - That idea of hope that's always been at the heart of Star Trek...is it really there this time?
• series - Discovery, as ever, boldly plunges ahead.
• character - Saru has definitely taken up the mandate.
• essential - This is one of those episodes that could impact the overall legacy of the series.

notable guest-stars:
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

He Was a Particularly Troubled Romulan: Star Trek Post-9/11

"He was a particularly troubled Romulan."

That's what Spock says of Nero in Star Trek (2009).  The line always stuck out for me, but I never quite understood why until recently.  Spock, of course, is Vulcan, and Nero is Romulan, an offshoot of the Vulcans.  Further characterizing the Romulans was always a little difficult.  In the original TV series, they were presented as another Cold War analogy, like the Klingons, who had fought the Federation in the past but had retreated into reclusiveness.  In fact, the fact that Romulans descended from Vulcans wasn't even generally known until they emerged again, and they went back into isolation until The Next Generation, where they became a recurring threat, until the events of Star Trek Nemesis, in which a clone of Picard named Shinzon attempted another full-scale war against the Federation, but ended up suffering the loss of their home planet in the backstory of Star Trek. 

Characterizing Nero as "particularly troubled" is a telling detail.  Nero's response to the destruction of Romulus is to blame Spock, the older one still alive in Picard's day, and all of the Federation, and to once again declare open war.  He sets about a plan to what is in his mind equitable retaliatory action, affecting the destruction of the Vulcan home world and then the rest of the leading Federation worlds, starting with Earth.

And it made me wonder what exactly Nero represented.  Longtime fans tend to look down on the new films, claiming they lack the spirit of the franchise by putting too much focus on flashy special effects.  But that's simply not the case.

Since 9/11, Star Trek has had terrorism on the brain.  Star Trek: Enterprise famously launched within weeks of 9/11.  By the end of its second season, Enterprise launched a major story arc in direct response, an act of terrorism against Earth that led to a preventive mission against the aliens responsible. 

As you read above, the franchise was responsive to its times from the very beginning.  The Klingons and the Romulans were both reflective of the Soviet Union, an idea that culminated in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with its breakup.  The Next Generation continued the tradition; the Troubles in Ireland were often reflected in its storytelling.  Deep Space Nine echoed the collapse of the imperial age with the end of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, reflecting back to the days of WWII but often evoking present times, if not the Troubles then the ongoing conflict in Israel.

Which brings us back to Star Trek.  What if Nero was a Palestinian analogy?  Or Islamic terrorists such as those who struck on 9/11?  I find it likely.  And then Star Trek Into Darkness doubled down on the idea. 
                                                                                                                                                                          

 

You'll recall the above promotional poster, meant to evoke Khan's early terrorism in the movie.  Khan himself might as well have depicted the perception that America's response to 9/11 ended up being excessive or misguided, to put it mildly.

 

Things worth considering.



Discovery 2x5 "Saints of Imperfection"

rating: ***

the story: The mycelial network is finally cleansed.

review: Hey!  I just wrote "mycelial" in a Discovery review for the first time.  The mycelial network in question is responsible for the spore drive that allowed the ship to make miraculous jumps throughout the first season, and gave Stamets a dramatic arc during it, and Tilly hers in the current, second season.  "Saints of Imperfection" effectively closes a story begun with the introduction of the ship itself.

The show's approach to the network has been comparable to the Prophets in Deep Space Nine or the Caretaker in Voyager; whether it goes in the latter direction or the former remains to be seen.  Voyager retired its original driving force in its second season, while DS9 kept its for all seven seasons. 

"Saints" turns expectations on their head, shifting the focus from Tilly back to Stamets by rediscovering his romantic partner Culber within the network.  The episode features a handful of reunions, between Burnham and Georgiou, Burnham and Tyler, and even Pike and Section 31 agent Leland.  Obviously all of this is leading up to the inevitable reunion of Burnham and Spock later in the season. 

It's a more satisfying climax within a season than the first season's unceremonious dumping of Lorca (I still hope that, too, can be revisited), and some of the most dramatic storytelling of the series to date, a nice response to the previous episode, "An Obol for Charon," in a completely different fashion.  For a series that has been attempting to tell big dramatic moments as frequently as possible, it's a considerable achievement to still be doing it so well, and arguably better than ever.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Section 31 has become a matter of fact in Star Trek at this point, and this is a moment to really let that sink in.
• series - Resolving a longstanding arc.
• character - Tilly and Stamets are squarely in the spotlight.
• essential - It's an episode that can't be missed.

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Discovery 2x4 "An Obol for Charon"

rating: ****

the story: A mystery sphere cripples the ship.

review: Well, this just might be the best episode of Discovery to date.  That's how good "An Obol for Charon" (a title that refers to Greek mythology, Charon being the ferryman bringing new souls to Hades) is.  No exaggeration.

It's the most confident Discovery has ever been.  It's the most Discovery that Discovery has ever been.  The characters assert themselves (which is saying something, as Discovery features perhaps already the most assertive characters in franchise history) to their fullest in a classic crisis episode (most comparable to Deep Space Nine's similarly masterful "Civil Defense") that also features at its core an equally classic "mystery space object," which itself seems to be a metaphor about the big mystery of the season itself, something Enterprise attempted in its third season Xindi arc multiple times.

But really, at times it's just plain masterful, just plain fun.  The early scenes concerning the Universal Translator not always performing adequately, to the Translator being sabotaged by the mystery space object and everyone speaking in foreign languages (it's an episode that builds and builds until it reaches a true crescendo), those are just the icing that somehow must compete with Saru's dramatic arc, which itself leads Burnham to realize she has to keep fighting for her brother (y'know, Spock)...

Some of the things that come up in "Obol" will undoubtedly be much debated in years to come, and I'm sure it'll make it hard for fans to fully embrace the episode.  At one point assisted suicide seems to be considered a viable option (Next Generation had a whole episode, "Ethics," in which Riker was disgusted at the very thought).  But this kind of bold storytelling is exactly what Star Trek ought to be, and what it invariably is at its best.  Whether or not you agree with the ideas is beside the point, but the very fact that it brings them up, that's always been at the heart of the franchise.

Toss in comparably small fish like the first appearance of Discovery's version of Number One (a classic one-off character who appears in the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage," and its repackaging in "The Menagerie") and wonderful appearances from supporting characters, and yeah, more of Tilly's predicament, which like the Spock arc continues to develop, but this time in a most compelling fashion, and the whole thing is a sheer delight.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Echoes of familiar storytelling that's frequently at the heart of Star Trek.
• series - Yet strongly resonant within Discovery itself.
• character - While Discovery is often at its best introducing characters, this is an instant of fully embracing their potential.
• essential - Discovery in bloom.

notable guest-stars:
Rebecca Romijn (Number One)
Tig Notaro (Reno)

Discovery 2x3 "Point of Light"

rating: ***

the story: Amanda visits, Tilly's ghost is explained, and we revisit the Klingons.

review: "Point of Light" was an episode attempting boldly to accomplish three things at the same time (four, really, but we'll get back to that), and the whole was less than the sum of its parts for it. 

The lead story, ostensibly, was actually the first plot point I reference above, Amanda's visit.  Amanda, of course, is Spock's mom, Sarek's wife, and Burnham's adoptive mother, and we've seen her a number of times over the years, and a few times in Discovery itself, but this might be her biggest spotlight to date...The problem is that because she has so much to compete with, she ends up the loser of the bunch.  Like "Lethe" last season, the Sarek spotlight, we get to find out more of what it was like to be Spock and Burnham's parent, not only relation to them, but the effect on the parent.  But where Sarek got a strong focus and a definite resolution, Amanda has to settle for a serialized tale.  It's been my observation that while serialization can work wonders, the best storytelling always knows when parts of a story need to work on their own.  This one is going to need other episodes to justify it, not just because it's part of an overall mystery, but because Amanda herself doesn't get to complete her statement.

But the good news is we quickly get a kind of resolution for Tilly's arc this season, even if it clearly has further room to blossom.  In this instance, Discovery did a classic bit of Star Trek storytelling (some kind of alien intelligence was messing with our people) in a thoroughly Discovery manner.  This part works for all the reasons the Amanda part doesn't.

Revisiting the Klingons means Ash Tyler and L'Rell, last seen in the first season finale ending the war and uniting the houses.  But Klingons being Klingons, there's an attempt to sabotage L'Rell's position as chancellor (or, Mother, as she dubs herself at the end of the episode).  More importantly, it's a chance to revisit Tyler, and he's got a new samurai look and seems far more comfortable than he ever was last season, and that's good.  And spending more time with the Klingons also lets us see where Discovery's depiction of them melds with other versions, even if the seeing them with hair doesn't work for all of them. 

But that part of the episode also sees the return of Georgiou, who'll be getting her own series, so this episode also serves as a backdoor pilot.  I'm not as sold on Georgiou as a compelling character as I am Tyler, so it's good that he's apparently going to be joining her adventures. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Feels less like something casual fans will be wild about and more for Discovery faithful.
• series - After two episodes that were for casual fans, it feels about right to go in that direction.
• character - Lots of focused storytelling, obviously.
• essential - Lots of important stuff happening, too, in ways that feel more organic than Discovery can sometimes feel.

notable guest-stars:
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Discovery 2x2 "New Eden"

rating: ***

the story: Locating one of seven mysterious anomalies unexpectedly leads the crew to a distant human colony.

review: "New Eden" is Discovery in deep classic franchise mode, one of the very textbook episode archetypes.  If you don't recognize it from the above brief summary, you probably aren't a fan.  This one goes back to the original series, and there were even examples in both Voyager and Enterprise.  Actually, the episode's roots go so deep, it was directed by Jonathan Frakes (Riker from The Next Generation)!

The funny thing is, that's probably the least explored element of the episode.  As with most such attempts, Discovery seems only half-interested in such storytelling, as if to say that it knows what Star Trek's supposed to do, and it's enough merely to acknowledge.  But the second season so far has greatly deviated from the frenetic pattern of the first, and actually begins to look a lot like Enterprise's third season, the hunt for the Xindi that, like this arc, involved the search for anomalous objects in space (in Enterprise it was spheres).

What's perhaps more interesting about the episode is how it's helping Tilly take a more active role in the series.  Tilly is emerging as a polarizing figure among fans.  Some find her downright irritating.  This actually puts her in good company, as the franchise has frequently found characters like that (Wesley Crusher in Next Generation, any number of Ferengi in Deep Space Nine, Neelix in Voyager, among others) in the spotlight.  But in the first season, Tilly stood out in small moments, never really driving the plot, in a series composed of characters filled with lucrative intrigue.  In this season, she's taken on a far more active role, and even has started borrowing a little from Stamets, for instance, as she finds herself haunted by dead acquaintances.  This will, at any rate, by interesting to see develop.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - An old plot, and also echoes of a previous serialized season.
• series - A few interesting things to say about the season's arc.
• character - Tilly begins to emerge as a more important element of the series.
• essential - The clumsy way the old plot is handled is familiar to fans of the series by this point.

Discovery 2x1 "Brother"

rating: ****

the story: The crew takes on Pike as temporary captain to solve a dangerous riddle in space.

review: There's a ton going on in this second season premiere, but the concise way to explain is thusly: this is a great way kick things off, as well as continue what came before.  It all centers, once again, on Michael Burnham, as we delve once more into her backstory, as the adopted daughter of Sarek and now as foster sister of...Spock.

First of all, let's get this out of the way: "Brother" continues Discovery's penchant for setting up new characters in the series.  Burnham's arrival aboard the Discovery itself was deftly handled in the first season, and there's the same dynamic spirit again here, not only with Pike (in his third live action incarnation, as with Sarek), but the cocky (and amusingly short-lived) Connolly and Reno, whom I hope we see again, all lively personalities that likewise follow in the tradition of the likes of Tilly and Stamets.  If Star Trek used to have the reputation of holding back the personalities of actors playing humans (a criticism leveled against Voyager), Discovery seems determined to prove that as yet another thing it's enthusiastically kicked to the curb.

Visually this is now the standard by which all later generations are going to judge the franchise.  "Brother" is the strongest TV effort yet in that regard, if you consider such things important.  Funny for something that began on a shoestring budget and often looked like it.

But back to Burnham.  The episode leans heavily on things Discovery fans already know, but backtrack so that newer fans might be able to catch up, before plunging ahead with our first glimpses of Spock in the series, at this point as a boy the young Burnham first met.  She's been a character to reckon with since she first appeared, and is easily the essential element of the series.  That is to say, she has earned her right to stand alongside not only Sarek but Spock as well, regardless of whether or not the actor playing him is Leonard Nimoy (the late and much-lamented).  The episode is very careful about how it approaches Spock, even as it shows us, incredibly new things us about even him, his relationship with Sarek, and even more of what made his early life such a struggle to reconcile his human and Vulcan halves.

If that isn't enough, "Brother" also throws in two classic Star Trek storytelling beats: a lost Starfleet ship being rediscovered unexpectedly, and a baffling enigma in space.  Any or all of this ought to be intriguing to longtime fans, and seeing it afresh will hopefully help hook new ones.

Humor was obviously also injected somewhat deliberately, mostly in the character of Saru, something that would've greatly benefited his Short Treks entry, which saw none of this kind of inspired storytelling.  The brief reference to it in the episode is basically all you really need to know, until we inevitably see his sister again.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A lot of stuff fans will appreciate.
• series - Beginning a fresh chapter doesn't mean the previous one is forgotten.
• character - All the returning main characters have at least a moment or two in which to shine, and several new ones are introduced brilliantly.
• essential - This is Discovery doing what it does best.

notable guest-stars:
James Frain (Sarek)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Tig Notaro (Reno)

Discovery - Short Treks 1x4 "The Escape Artist"

rating: ****

the story: Mudd has been captured...again.

review: Wow, so I begin to suspect there was no production overview on these Short Treks.  Two of them were attempts at profound statements, idea-wise or character-wise, and they more or less failed, and two of them were simply creative statements, and they were huge successes.  The latter I consider "Calypso" and now "The Escape Artist."  "Calypso" featured a totally new character while "Escape Artist" marks Harry Mudd's third Discovery appearance, and his best to date.

After a debut marred by an undercooked debut for Tyler in "Choose Your Pain" and a perhaps overly clever follow-up in "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad," Mudd at last stands front and center, and is all the more charming for it.  It's not Rainn Wilson who was ever the problem.  On the contrary, he proved an inspired choice (the most inspired casting choice of Discovery to date) to play this incarnation of Mudd.  Presentation of the character has also been remarkably consistent, more than enough to sell the, ah, virtues of a character who had become entangled in memories of the original (and animated) series but perhaps doomed to never escape it. 

There are even echoes of other Star Trek adventures here.  One can see Enterprise's "Bounty" in there; the two stories even share Tellarites in common, and I doubt that's coincidence.  But the difference is that Mudd isn't Captain Archer, and isn't even Starfleet.  What "Escape Artist" and "Calypso" do best, in fact, is prove that Star Trek doesn't need Starfleet to tell a worthwhile story, which is something the franchise hasn't really tried before.  As Mudd has reiterated a few times at this point, existing alongside the Federation but standing outside of it gives him ample opportunity to reflect on its existence (another thing the Abrams films, particularly Star Trek Beyond, have also touched on to considerable value).

"Escape Artist" takes full advantage of the Short Treks format, even using unusual editing for a Star Trek, which other entries would've greatly benefited from (particularly "Brightest Star"), and unlike the other three realizes that this was an opportunity to revisit something we had seen but could might see in even better light with added spotlight.  And it's something you could show anyone and they would more likely than not get a kick out of.  And that's as high praise as you can get for mass audiences.  For fans, it's a fun indulgence in a lot of familiar material, grounded by letting a fun character be at his most engaging.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - General fans will dig it.
• series - Committed fans will dig it.
• character - Arguably the best Mudd spotlight to date.
• essential - A great way to showcase Star Trek.

notable guest-stars:
Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd)