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)