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)